HE might rub shoulders with pop greats, but Michael Rapino is likely to make many music fans’ blood boil.
He is the concert ticket Mr Big, on a salary package of £7.3million a year, who runs a company that rakes in a cut of cash from touts exploiting stars’ devotees on re-sale sites.
Now some of those stars are speaking out against the resale industry, which legally charges up to ten times the original face-value price.
Sir Elton John has blasted the mark-ups as “disgraceful”, as it emerged tickets to his 2016 shows are selling for five times the face value.
Adele stated on her website this month that “the resale of tickets” for her tour next year “will not be tolerated”.
And Coldplay signed a letter to the Government calling for a review on the issue, claiming the ticketing industry is open to “industrial-scale abuse and insider exploitation.”
The apparently noble idea behind the sites is to allow fans who can no longer go to concerts to legitimately sell to each other.
But today The Sun reveals they have become infested with organised touts, separate from the big ticket websites.
Yet sites such as Get Me In and Seatwave, owned by Ticketmaster, legally take a cut of the marked-up sales.
To add to the insult, Ticketmaster often sells the original tickets, meaning they get cuts from two sales.
Rapino, 49, is CEO of Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster.
The group had a bumper payday when tickets to Adele’s sold-out 2016 tour popped up for ten times their original price on resale sites.
Ticketmaster had a contract to sell some tickets for the Glasgow dates, but immediately touts were offering them on Get Me In and Seatwave. When asked about so-called secondary ticketing on US TV earlier this month, Rapino said: “We think it is a huge opportunity.”
On the initial sale, Ticketmaster, the UK’s biggest ticket seller, adds a booking fee of around five to ten per cent. But as owner of Get Me In and Seatwave, it profits from resold tickets, too.
On Get Me In, as well as a fee of ten per cent of the resale ticket value charged to the seller, the buyer must pay the firm 15 per cent. Seatwave charges a fee of 12 per cent to sellers. But the amount it charges buyers — the booking fee — is around 18 to 20 per cent.
There are hundreds of tickets on Get Me In. For Adele’s first night at London’s O2. Prices range from £204 to £2,800, with an average of £703.74. They were first sold for as little as £35.
While it is not illegal to resell tickets for profit, consumer group Which? said it is likely some selling patterns are only possible because of “botnets”.
The widely available software is used for the automated mass purchasing of tickets by unrelated touts, making it almost impossible for real fans to buy tickets on primary sites.
Yet some fans may not even get in after paying the huge prices, as promoters can ID them to ensure they are with the original buyer.
Marc Gander, of Consumer Action Group online forum, said: “This is what happens when a big company essentially controls the market — there’s no competition.”
Concert chief Rapino, who mixes with pop stars including Rihanna, lives with wife Jolene Blalock, a model and actress, and their three kids in a £10million LA mansion.
Last summer, he hosted US President Barack Obama there.
Which? monitored four of the biggest secondary ticketing websites — Get Me In, Seatwave, StubHub and Viagogo.
It found strict resale rules were being flouted, including selling to fans despite knowing some venues require photo ID of the original buyer.
Ticketmaster said it did not sell tickets for Adele’s other dates during the original sale and disputes profiting twice from them.
Who are the big players?
GET ME IN: Owned by Ticketmaster. Gigs on resale now include Justin Bieber, Coldplay, Little Mix and Adele.
Prices for Adele’s opening night at the O2 in London range from £204 to £2,800.
It charges a fee of ten per cent of the resale ticket value to the seller, while the buyer must also pay 15 per cent on top.
SEATWAVE: Also owned by Ticketmaster. Currently promoting gigs by Rihanna, Lionel Richie, Manic Street Preachers and The Cure.
Rihanna tickets that were originally £60 are going for as much as £311. It charges 12 per cent to sellers and a booking fee of around 18 to 20 per cent.
VIAGOGO: Top events include Billy Joel, Jeff Lynne and Rod Stewart, with prices up to £3,632.76 for Adele at the O2.
Its fees are ten per cent to the seller and 15 per cent to the buyer. It defends secondary ticketing, saying tickets would otherwise be sold on the black market with no customer protection.
STUBHUB: Currently promoting gigs by Billy Connolly, Muse and Stereophonics. Warns sellers its prices may be higher than face value. A ticket to see Muse in Birmingham, originally £75, is on sale for up to £313.88.
The fee depends on the event, ticket and location, but sellers are typically charged 15 per cent and buyers ten per cent.
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