THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Not content with charging £42.50 for tickets to next summer’s UK tour, representatives of Radiohead have formed an alliance with those from more than 400 other artists aiming to grab back money from second-hand ticket sales.

The reps – whose clients include industry big-hitters like Robbie Williams, KT Tunstall and the Verve - have created the Resale Rights Society to lobby the likes of eBay, Viagogo and Seat Exchange for royalties.

“The secondary ticketing market offers benefits to music fans and the live music industry alike. It does not make sense to criminalize it,” says Resale Rights Society chairman-elect Marc Marot. “But there are real issues of consumer protection here, and it is unacceptable that not a penny of the estimated £200 million in transactions generated by the resale of concert tickets in the U.K. is returned to the investors in the live music industry. Where this trade is fair to consumers, we propose to authorize it by agreeing to a levy on all transactions."

Levy? Like box office booking and processing fees then, Mr Marot?

Marot, who manages Yusuf Islam and Paul Oakenfold and is former chief executive of Island Records, went on to implore the likes of eBay to work with the RRS, claiming they’d consistently claimed they’d welcome any such move.

Jazz Summers, chairman of the Music Managers Forum and manager of the Verve, concurred, saying “the industry needs to stand together and ensure that our artists and the fans are not exploited by operators of online ticket exchanges.”

Thanks to Gary Wolstenholme for the tip.