NEW DELHI: Some 13 million people were reported to have logged on to BookMyShow’s website and app to buy tickets for British rock band Coldplay's upcoming three Music of the Spheres World Tour 2025 concerts in Mumbai, with only 180,000 tickets available.
Expectedly, it took barely 30 minutes for tickets to be wiped out.
Almost immediately, tickets began appearing on resale on various platforms at massively inflated prices.
BookMyShow priced tickets between INR2,000 (RM98.50) and INR35,000 (RM1,724),
Resale platforms like Viagogo were listing tickets for as much as INR10 lakh (RM49,261) .
A INR12,500 (RM616) ticket was being sold for over INR3.36 lakh (RM16,552) on these platforms, with standing tickets, originally priced at INR6,450 (RM318), being resold for up to INR50,000 (RM2,463)
Fans complained about hours-long digital queues and site crashes, but many also alleged that the sales were rigged as resellers had begun selling tickets for five times the price - touching even INR900,000 (RM44,335) rupees — before they were released for sale on the official site.
BookMyShow has since denied any association with resellers and urged fans to avoid tickets from "unauthorised sources" as they could be fake, but this hasn't stopped people from viewing the site suspiciously.
Ticket scalping is illegal in India, and experts say that while it's possible that it's happening anyway, it's also likely that legitimate ticket-holders are selling theirs through resellers to make a profit due to the massive demand.
While the inflated prices of Coldplay tickets are shocking, the huge demand for tickets to see popular international artists perform is not uncommon, in India and around the world.
Chart-toppers like Ed Sheeran, Alan Walker and Dua Lipa have performed in India in the recent past, with the latter two are set to perform again this year.
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