ByteDance mass food poisoning: Catering company Yunhaiyao pleads guilty
ByteDance mass food poisoning: Catering company Yunhaiyao pleads guilty
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Commentary: I never buy concert tickets from scalpers. You shouldn't either
SINGAPORE: When K-pop group 2NE1 announced their reunion tour last year, I was ecstatic. The group disbanded in 2016, when I was just 18. Now, as a working adult with some disposable income, I was finally ready and able to fulfil my teenage dream of seeing them live – likely my first and last chance, given that this was a one-off reunion tour. On Oct 9, 2024, my colleague and I hunched over our computers during our lunch hour as 2NE1 ticket sales opened on Ticketmaster. But we never stood a chance. Scalpers and low-queue-number bots cleaned out the inventory within minutes. Whenever we did manage to select seats, we were met with an error message. The site simply wasn't built to handle this kind of demand, whether real or artificially inflated. Over the past few years, Singapore's strategic location, strong infrastructure and reputation for efficiency and safety have made us not just an ideal choice for global acts looking to draw regional crowds, but the only choice for many. We were Coldplay's only Southeast Asia stop in their 2024 tour, and Lady Gaga's only Asia stop in May 2025. The Singapore government reportedly shelled out millions to secure exclusive dates for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour last year, drawing diplomatic side-eyes from neighbours like Thailand. We've benefited greatly from this exclusivity – but demand for concerts on our tiny island had already been high without bringing overseas buyers into the mix. Now, limited performances and an influx of cross-border fans have turned tickets into red-hot commodities, creating the perfect storm for resale profiteers to thrive. In a 2024 survey by RySense, 8 per cent of Singapore respondents admitted to having purchased concert tickets through unofficial channels. As scalping becomes more common, more concertgoers may feel pressured to buy from such resellers. Not because they support it – in fact, 61 per cent of survey respondents supported outlawing scalping – but because they feel they have no other choice. But despite growing public frustration, can we actually make scalping illegal in Singapore? A BROKEN SYSTEM I eventually managed to get a ticket to 2NE1's show much later, thanks to a friend's offer of their spare stub. But in the weeks I spent scouring Telegram chat groups for a decently priced resale, I saw countless posts from fans who'd paid eye-watering amounts to scalpers. Others complained about falling victim to outright scams – they'd been left with neither ticket nor refund, and no real recourse. Judging by the chorus of complaints on social media after every major ticket drop, it's evident this is happening more and more frequently to more and more concertgoers. For Lady Gaga's four-show run in May 2025, resale tickets were listed for as much as S$30,000 on Carousell. Whether it was a serious bid for extravagant profit or some kind of joke, it reflects just how opportunistic this space has become. At the centre of this broken system: Platforms like Ticketmaster, the world's biggest ticketer which controls over 70 per cent of the ticketing and live events market in the US alone. The issue is that reselling for profit is often seen as just another form of commerce. What counts as an 'unfair' markup is also highly subjective. When the product or service is something non-essential, like a concert ticket, it's easy to see why lawmakers might not treat it as a pressing concern. Nevertheless, some countries are taking a firmer stance – for instance, Japan has made it illegal to resell tickets for concerts and sports events above face value. It's a model Singapore could consider, but enforcement remains tricky, especially in an era where more and more transactions are taking place on loosely regulated platforms with limited oversight and digital anonymity. A NO-SCALPING FUTURE IS POSSIBLE Interestingly, I've even heard of bots designed to auto-inflate suspicious ticket prices to absurd levels, just to block resales entirely – a creative if ironic 'solution'. Performers can also play a role. For his 2018 stadium tour, Ed Sheeran took an aggressive stance against scalping by enforcing identity checks at performance venues and mandating authorisation letters for third-party purchases, including for his Singapore stop. He also partnered with Twickets, a resale platform that caps listings at face value. More notably, he cancelled 10,000 resold tickets for his tour and worked with affected fans to help them secure refunds and legitimate tickets. Sheeran's example shows that it's possible to rout scalping – but only if performers and ticketers are willing to go beyond the bare minimum. A CONCERTGOER'S RESPONSIBILITY Some may rationalise that paying scalpers an additional (if exorbitant) premium is a fair trade for a once-in-a-lifetime experience – but I, for one, simply can't do it. It just feels too much like complicity. Every inflated transaction fuels a vicious cycle that makes it harder for the next fan to get a fair shot. It rewards bad actors, drives up the secondary market and sidelines genuine buyers who simply can't afford excessive markups. In light of this, what can we, as individuals, do to protect ourselves? First, stop buying from scalpers. Report them instead, whether you're on Ticketmaster, Carousell, or even eBay. This won't eliminate the problem overnight, but neither will ignoring it or playing into it. Next, gather strength in numbers. Buy event tickets in pairs or larger groups. Consider forming a trusted group of friends to purchase tickets together, and if someone drops out, resell the ticket within the group at face value. This keeps tickets circulating among real fans and fosters a culture of sharing, not scalping. If you're unable to get a ticket, ask around through your network of friends and acquaintances first. When there's a personal connection, even if it's one or two degrees removed, you're less likely to get overcharged or scammed. If you're willing to pay a little more for peace of mind, professional queuers might be another option. A friend of mine paid someone S$100 in advance to secure a specific seat for Lady Gaga – a sum that would have been refunded if her seat wasn't secured. The upsides: You know exactly what seat or ticket type you're getting, and you have full transparency about what exactly you're paying for. Last resort: Wait it out. Scalpers holding unsold tickets often panic closer to the event date, so they tend to drop their prices drastically within 48 hours of the concert. If you can handle the uncertainty, waiting can help you land a ticket at face value or even cheaper. (However, should scalpers manage to clear their inventory before show day, this does mean you may not land a ticket at all – especially risky if you've hopped on a plane to attend the show.) As long as rules and regulations continue to lag behind, we may not be able to beat scalpers at their game just yet – but we can choose not to play their game at all.
