The Record Label Industry Association Of Korea Files Petition To Revise Ticket Scalping Laws

The Record Label Industry Association Of Korea is actively taking the lead in eradicating ticket scalpers by filing petitions. Yoon Dong Hwan, chairman of the Record Label Industry Association of Korea, recently petitioned the Ministry of Justice requesting recision of the ticket scalping law.

According to the bill, a ticket scalper is “a person who resells an admission ticket or boarding pass to another person for an additional fee at a performance hall, stadium, station, ferry, bus stop, or other place where one is admitted or boarded for a fixed fee.” The association stated, “This bill was enacted 50 years ago, and it uses the term ‘ferry,’ which isn’t used anymore. It also specifies a place, so if it is traded online through social media, it is not recognized as a scalper under the law.”

They continued, “Scammers are as toxic to society as drugs. Businesses that host performances and games must bear additional costs to prevent and detect ticket scalping, and audiences spend several times more than the set ticket prices, and singers and players feel burdened by the increased spending from fans. Only scalpers are making unfair profits.”

They also felt that these illegal acts should be punished as felonies.

As ticket scalping rises, the number of scams using ticket scalpers also increases. Such illegal acts that destroy the industrial structure by taking advantage of innocent fans should be punished as felonies, but our county cannot be punished even as misdemeanors.

Additionally, with the advent of macros, scalpers are becoming more organized and corporate. With the revision of the Public Performance Act in March 2024, purchasing using macros was defined as illegal, but in reality, it is impossible to detect macro purchases by individual scalpers who are specialized in division. It is difficult to eradicate scalping itself at once, but first, we request that the law enacted 50 years ago must be revised first.

The petition that the association originally filed with the Ministry of Justice was transferred to the National Police Agency as it was a misdemeanor and has received a notice to extend the petition’s processing.

Meanwhile, the association is making steady efforts to eradicate scalping and revise the definition of scalping by conducting user opinion surveys on performance reservations and ticket scalping and sounding the alarm on the corporatization of scalpers through interviews with former officials who worked as scalpers in the past.