Tim Minchin Calls Out Viagogo & Challenges Company For Charity Donation

Australian artist Tim Minchin has called out Viagogo for reselling tickets for his recently announced UK tour at inflated prices. 

The Perth musician and comedian has taken to Twitter saying, “Sadly, I have to tweet this every time I put shows on sale. NEVER buy tickets from Viagogo or other resale sites”. 

“They are cheating scumbags. Scalpers. Petty grifters. They buy tickets in bulk to deliberately increase scarcity, then sell them at hugely inflated prices,” he said in the thread. 

“They create nothing and contribute nothing. They skulk on in after artists, producers and promoters have done all the hard work and, by preying on people’s naivety and advertising themselves as a ticket outlet, make money that they’ve done nothing to deserve.” 

READ MORE: Review - Tim Minchin’s ‘Surreal’ Return To Stage In Post-Lockdown WA

“The fact that even now, as our industry is on its knees, they continue this shit is proof of what massive wankers they are. They are not only stealing your money short term, but their practise drives the price of tickets up in general.” 

Minchin goes on to say that he is aiming to “to raise about £7K for charity at each gig”, calling for Viagogo to match the amount dollar for dollar.  

Viagogo is yet to respond to the tweets. See the full thread from Minchin here.

It’s been a big 12 months for Minchin, signing with BMG and releasing his debut album, as well as playing a number of live shows following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions. 

Minchin’s BACK UK tour kicks off in October. Head to theGuide for more information on his upcoming Australian dates. 

Last May, Austria's Supreme Court ruled that Viagogo must enforce transparency on its website when reselling tickets.

The case against the London-founded ticketing company was brought by the trade body for sports and leisure companies of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Commerce who argued that Viagogo was reselling tickets for events at "significantly inflated prices". Read the full story here.

UPDATE - 3.35pm Friday, 12 March:

Viagogo has since responded to the posts, sharing the following statement with The Music.

"viagogo is the world’s largest secondary marketplace for tickets to live sport, music and entertainment events. Our aim is to provide ticket buyers with the widest possible choice of tickets to events across the world and to help ticket sellers, ranging from individuals with a spare ticket to large multi-national event organisers, reach global audiences.

"Comments made by Mr Tim Minchin demonstrate a fundamental misunderstanding of how viagogo, or indeed other resale platforms, operate and the valuable service we provide to enable event organisers to maximise attendance and consumers to access otherwise difficult to obtain tickets.

"It is absolutely misleading to suggest that viagogo buys tickets directly. It is not how the platform works at all and it is irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

"Prices for tickets listed on the viagogo site are set by sellers and may be below or above face value. Tickets that are listed at unreasonable prices get the most media attention but rarely, if ever, sell. viagogo does not buy or sell tickets. 

"viagogo welcomes further opportunities to work with event organisers directly to support them in the distribution of their tickets. In a post COVID-19 world, we feel that cooperation should be the focus of all those within the industry.

"viagogo will not allow sellers to list tickets for the charity section of Mr Minchin’s event."