The German metal band Rammstein has filed a restraining order against Viagogo ahead of their upcoming European tour. The move is intended to crack down on online resellers like Viagogo, which notoriously house scalpers, drive up ticket prices, and make it harder for fans to get in to see shows.
Louder reports the injunction was legally actioned by the district court of Hamburg, and effectively prevents the world’s largest ticket reselling platform from legally housing Rammstein tickets. This is actually the second time that the Hamburg court has forbidden Viagogo from touting Rammstein tickets, as frontman Till Lindemann successfully lobbied a similar lawsuit back in 2019.
The band’s lawyer, Sebastian Ott, explained that the reason for the lawsuits was to protect fans. “Buyers often do not realize that they are not buying their tickets from the organizer but on the secondary ticket market. The legislature has recognized this deficiency and acted. We are pleased that the district court of Hamburg shares our opinion and consistently prohibits violations of the new law.”
The order details that the only platform allowed to sell Rammstein tickets is Eventim, although the attendees’ full name must be displayed on the ticket for admission, alongside proof of identification. Fans also won’t be able to resell tickets themselves, unless they do it through the fanSALE website distributed by Eventim, after December 1, 2022.
It’s nice to see bands taking the extra steps to protect their fans from predatory practices. While the need to carry ID can provide a minor annoyance, it’s a small price to pay to avoid the inevitable price gouging that comes from scalpers and online resellers like Viagogo. The impulse to seek alternatives to centralized ticket spaces in understandable, but it inevitably only drives ticket prices higher. While there are certainly arguments to be made about the dangers of ticket seller monopolies (looking at you, Ticketmaster), we can only hope that other bands will follow Rammstein’s example to squash outside reselling.
