On Wednesday, it took just two hours for the Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ) to sell out all of its general admission tickets for its 55th edition, an unprecedented feat. Just minutes later, hundreds of them were available at double or even triple the original price on resale sites or the marketplace, angering music lovers who couldn’t get their hands on them in time.
“WOW, you guys are amazing! […] It’s a record! Thank you for your enthusiasm again this year! the festival team rejoiced in its social networks on Wednesday afternoon, impressed by the speed with which the 125,000 tickets flew by.
At the same time, comments on the internet piled up with disappointment and anger from music lovers who couldn’t get a ticket – and saw resale prices soar.
“You surprise me that there were no more tickets in two hours, they are on the resale pages and on the marketplace,” Léa Julien interjects annoyed. She considered paying a few bucks more for a pass, but the prices quickly put her off.
While a general admission ticket to attend the 11-day shows typically costs $140, you can resell tickets on sites like Billets.ca or 514-billets.com Instead, they charge between $250 and $400. A Gold Frontstage Pass holder is even trying to get $699 for the Green Day show. Others charge $899 for Foo Fighters or Imagine Dragons in the same category.
“There is no question that I pay so much and let people take advantage of the system. We will find a Plan B for our summer vacation and postpone it until next year,” says the young woman.
Our means are limited to prohibition [la revente]. Our remedies against resellers are limited.
Patrick Bergeron, a regular at the festival for more than 15 years, also worries he’ll have to settle for free FEQ shows this year. “I didn’t understand anything,” he says. I registered in the evening and it was already empty, whereas last year it took two weeks to sell out. »
Reselling at full price isn’t the only problem, he stresses. There are also those who rent day passes for $40 or $50. “Renting isn’t new, you do it for the nights you don’t want to go. But there, many of them got hold of a ticket package that they borrow for 11 days at a great price. It will be the resale and rental festival this year! he complains.
“It hurts our hearts”
In an interview with Le Devoir, FEQ communications director Samantha McKinley points out that the festival team is making every effort to ensure that passes get into the hands of genuine music fans. A waiting room system has been put in place to respect the principle of first come, first served, only one transaction will be authorized by credit card, and the number of tickets purchased per transaction is limited to four.
In addition, the team closely monitors the presence of robots looking to make large purchases. “This year, in our opinion, only a few robots took up the ticket purchase […] in particular, we know that the average number of tickets sold per transaction has decreased compared to last year. »
Of course, she doesn’t deny that there is resale. “It certainly breaks our hearts to see prices being swept up on resale. We are an NPO working very hard to diversify our revenue and offer tickets at low prices. […] But our means to ban it are limited. Our remedies against resellers are limited. »
The FEQ is funded 13% by the City of Quebec, the Government of Quebec and the Government of Canada.
However, Ms McKinley refuses to believe that these resellers alone explain the record time recorded on Wednesday to sell around 125,000 passes. “There’s a real buzz. We’re coming out of the pandemic, people want to be at festivals again. We’ve also received rave reviews about the programming,” she says. The 55th edition of the FEQ will indeed welcome big names like Foo Fighters, Imagine Dragons, Billy Talent, Lana Del Rey, Weezer or even Green Day.
Common problem
The resale of festival or show tickets at exorbitant prices is a “huge” and increasingly common problem in Quebec, according to Eve Paré, director general of the Association québécoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de video (ADISQ).
The problem was somewhat resolved in 2012 with the passage of Bill 25, which allows the Consumer Protection Agency (OPC) to act faster. According to this law, “no dealer may charge a consumer for the sale of a show ticket a higher price than that advertised by the seller authorized by the show’s producer”.
However, most resale sites today describe themselves as intermediaries between individual buyers and sellers. And since the return to normality in the cultural environment, according to Ms. Paré, the phenomenon of resale of show tickets has increased. “Sometimes there are double price tickets for a show that has just started and hasn’t even sold out yet,” she says.
ADISQ also collected several complaints from its members last year and entrusted the whole thing to the OPC. “The investigation is ongoing, we’re waiting, we can’t wait to see the result,” she said. When asked by Le Devoir, the OPC confirms that it “is currently carrying out several controls on the resale of show tickets” without giving any further details.
“It’s a shame that tickets are sold at such high prices. With inflation affecting everyone, getting our show tickets right is more important than ever,” she says.