Cancellation price: Kanye West will not attend October concerts in St. Petersburg
The organizers of the Russian concerts of American rapper Kanye West announced the final cancellation of the show. The event has already received this status several times: from the self-withdrawal of Gazprom Arena, which Say Agency called its venue until recently, to the corresponding statement from the Access Opera concert agency, which is a partner of Kanye West's world tour. The musician's fans intend to sue both the agency and the ticket service and Gazprom Arena. Izvestia found out what the events threaten the entire concert industry in the country.
Are there tickets, but no concert?
On September 30, it was still possible to purchase tickets for both the concert on October 10 and the next one on October 11 on the Say Agency website. Seats on the dance floor and on the stands were available for payment, costing from 30 thousand rubles. However, at 8:15 p.m., the agency posted a statement on its Telegram channel that the show was canceled after all.
"It is with sincere regret that we inform you that Ye's concerts in St. Petersburg will not be able to take place on the scheduled dates," it says.
Tickets can be refunded starting from October 12. We'll find out what the rules are later.
Muscovite Igor Tsvetkov bought a ticket to the second Ye concert on Wednesday, September 30, in sector B109, for 33 thousand rubles. He was not intimidated by the suspended status of the event. On the contrary, the young man is sure that we are talking about "warming up the audience."
— If ticket sales are open, then there will be a concert. And if they say they won't, then, in my opinion, this is a pre-agreed action among all the organizers, sub-organizers. That is, the audience is just warming up," Igor told Izvestia.
At the same time, thousands of comments appeared in the morning under the post by Say Agency, which promised to dot the I on Wednesday (without specifying which one). People are sharing their ticket refund experiences: some are trying to challenge banking transactions, others are just about to file lawsuits, and others are already working with lawyers.
On September 30, a representative of the agency was summoned to one of the Moscow judicial precincts to conduct a conversation on a claim for recovery of funds, compensation for moral damage and the award of a fine to Say Agency.
Daria Zubkova planned to come to the concert on October 10. She received a ticket to sector B213 as a gift. The girl believed in holding the concert to the last, but in case of cancellation she intended to go to court. However, she was going to file a lawsuit not against Say Agency, but against Intickets and Gazprom Arena. She has a question about the service because of the ticket fee, which, as Daria was informed, is not going to be refunded. The average commission is about 10% of the ticket price.
— If the concert is canceled, the money is refunded, but the service fee is not refunded, then yes, I will go to court. It's a crucial point, because it's my money, and they got it for nothing: the work wasn't done," Daria told Izvestia.
In addition, the girl plans to file a general lawsuit due to the fact that she considers Gazprom Arena's actions to be a large-scale fraud.
— They are primarily to blame for this. People started buying tickets after confirmation from Gazprom Arena and when tickets became available on their official website. At least that's how it is with me," Zubkova said.
Daria claims that this does not remove the blame from the agency, but deserves sympathy. Because it is to Say Agency that the main claims are made.
On August 17, an announcement of future concerts by American musician Kanye West did appear on the Gazprom Arena Telegram channel, but on August 24 it was reported that the venue "was not and is not the organizer of this event." Izvestia contacted Gazprom Arena for comments, and on September 21, representatives of the organization reiterated that they were not the organizers of the show, did not sell tickets, and did not receive money from the audience.
In standby mode
The situation around the concert is absurdly consonant with the famous thought experiment by Erwin Schrodinger, in which an object can be in two opposite states simultaneously while being looked at.
This case could have serious consequences for the music industry. Russian promoters risk being blacklisted by foreign artists.
— As a company that works with foreign artists, we really hoped that these concerts would take place. This would send a strong signal to the market and open up an opportunity for dialogue with a large number of foreign performers. So far, the situation has turned out differently, and probably new names will not appear in the segment of major international stars as soon as we would like," Kim Min Gyu, founder of MG MUSIC concert agency, told Izvestia.
There is also a second important aspect: the entire industry is now closely monitoring how the Say Agency will refund tickets. In case of final cancellation, the number of victims will reach about 115 thousand people. According to preliminary estimates, fans can lose about 300 million rubles on non-refundable service fees alone.
Moreover, the situation may lead to new legislative measures and regulatory requirements for the entire market. According to the expert, protecting the interests of viewers should be a priority, but the consequences of such changes can seriously affect the work of the industry.
On August 28, Izvestia wrote about the proposal of the Consumer Union of Russia to revise the rules for ticket sales. The relevant documents were sent to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the State Duma Committee on Culture and the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture. It is proposed to oblige the organizers of the show to conclude an agreement with the venue and confirm agreements with the artists before the start of sales. The authors also recommend abandoning the practice of selling non-refundable tickets under the guise of promotions.
Association of Concert Promoters and new rules
Evgeny Finkelstein, President of the PMI promotion Corporation, believes that consolidation of the industry is necessary to avoid such situations.
— We tried to gather promoters, concert venues and ticket operators into an association, but this project has not been implemented to the end. Because the work of such an association should be regulated by regulations, and it is already necessary to involve the state," he told Izvestia.
According to Evgeny Safronov, editor-in-chief of the InterMedia news agency, attempts to change the industry have already taken place. But they remained unsuccessful.
— There is no industry legislation, official statistics, reliable analytics, no department is responsible for it — there is no one to ask. In 2016, the Soyuzconcert association was created specifically to consolidate the industry (not to be confused with the legendary VGKO Soyuzconcert of the USSR Ministry of Culture!), an industry bill was prepared in the second reading, we began developing regulations for responsible business based on industry self-regulation, but at some point the most influential people of the then show business headed Iosif Kobzon, Alla Pugacheva, Maxim Galkin* and others gathered in the State Duma and practically buried the whole idea in one meeting," the expert said in an interview with Izvestia.
Evgeny Finkelstein suggests another option — that the promoters receive money only after the concert. Thus, only the organizers of the event will be at risk. The measures will significantly reduce the number of agencies, but they will teach promoters responsibility.
— And then they won't be able to give out sky-high fees to artists anymore. What is happening now? There are a dozen really in-demand artists left, with 30 promoters running after them, and everyone is trying to offer some crazy money. And if you realize that you have to invest your money first and only then receive the proceeds from the concert, you simply won't promise a fee that you don't have the money for. If you have to work with your own money, there will most likely be fewer promotional companies. But they will also be much more responsible about their work," Finkelstein said.
The main question at the moment is whether people will get their money back. The expert notes that in the case of a refund, there will most likely be no criminal consequences. If the money is not returned, the situation, in his opinion, may lead to a change in the entire system.
* entered into the Register of Foreign Agents by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation
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