Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has raised concerns over the alleged black marketing of tickets for Coldplay’s upcoming concerts in Mumbai, scheduled for January 2025.
After tickets sold out within minutes of being made available online on Sunday, Yadav took to social media to point attention towards the resale of tickets at highly inflated prices, claiming they are being sold for "20 to 50 times their original price."
In a post on platform X, Yadav questioned the government's ability to prevent such illegal practices, stating,"As soon as the booking opens, all the tickets are booked within a short time, and then they are sold in black for lakhs. This is a challenge at the level of governance and administration. Is there no government in the country that can stop such illegal sales and fake ticket rackets?"
Yadav wrote about the importance of equal access to entertainment, criticising the commercialisation of art. He argued that limiting access to events like concerts based on wealth violates the rights of artists and diminishes public appreciation for their work.
"If art is limited to the purchasing power of a few people, it becomes a business," Yadav said. He also emphasised that this practice causes a "loss of tax revenue for the government" and diminishes true respect for artists and their art.
The issue came to the fore when tickets for Coldplay’s concerts at DY Patil Sports Stadium, scheduled for January 18, 19, and 21, 2025, sold out within minutes on BookMyShow. The sudden surge in demand even caused the platform to crash, with fans sharing screenshots of the website and app being unresponsive.
In addition to this, as per reports, third-party vendors managed to secure bulk tickets. For instance, websites like Viagogo were found selling tickets for up to 100 times their original price. A ticket for Rs 6,500 was priced between Rs 30,000 to Rs 75,000 on the website.
Yadav pointed out that wealth should not dictate one’s ability to enjoy or appreciate art, stating that "it is not always the rich who are experts or connoisseurs of art."
He warned that when access to art is restricted to the wealthy, artists do not receive the true recognition and appreciation they deserve.
This is not the first time Akhilesh Yadav has brought up Coldplay in his criticism of government policies. In 2016, he humorously compared the repetitive nature of the government's budget announcements to the British band’s music, quipping that he would rather listen to their song “Hymn for the Weekend.”
As Coldplay fans eagerly await the concerts, Yadav’s concerns highlight a growing issue in ticketing for high-profile events in India and even abroad, where scalping and inflated resale prices continue to affect the accessibility of entertainment for many.
