London music venue Islington Assembly Hall has become the UK’s first venue to go mobile-only, in a bid to cut out touts.
As of today (September 19), the venue will only sell tickets through music discovery and ticketing app, DICE.
DICE was set up in 2014, and sells tickets through its app, which can’t be resold through secondary agents or sold by touts outside of venues, as you have to show the ticket on the app on your phone as you enter.
The app provides users with updated stage times and info about support acts, as well as allowing fans to get refunds up to moments before the gig starts.
Islington Assembly Hall’s business manager Lucinda Brown said, “We’re so excited to be working with DICE and to be leading the way as a music venue offering mobile-first tickets. Through this partnership, we are making a stand against touts and allowing fans to have more control.”
Upcoming gigs at the 800-capacity venue include Rae Morris, Republica and Nadine Shah.
Full listings can be viewed on DICE.
How can tickets be on third party websites already but literally no one with a presale code managed to get one? #LiamGallagher pic.twitter.com/ICU7MmNt62
— Will Pike (@willpike8) September 6, 2017
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Earlier this month fans took to social media to express their frustration at being unable to get tickets for Liam Gallagher‘s upcoming UK and Ireland tour, as many tickets went straight onto resale sites at extrotionate prices.
In July, tickets for Ed Sheeran‘s sold out 2018 UK and Ireland shows were being resold for over 10 times their face value.
Back in 2016, Chance the Rapper took almost 2000 tickets for his Magnificent Coloring Day Festival back off “fuckboy scalpers” so he could resell them to fans.
In March this year, the government said it was taking action against ticket touts and resale sites like Viagogo and StubHub, passing a bill which made it illegal for bots to bypass limits on the maximum number of tickets that can be bought.