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Michael Jackson Ticket Refunds - AEG Face £300m Liability
Friday, 26 June 2009 Written by Stereoboard.com
ImageMichael Jackson's untimely death has brought concert promoter AEG Live to face a liability of £300 million and could put huge strain on ticket resellers.

AEG Live persuaded the 'King of Pop' to sign up for a 50 date 'farewell' tour at London's O2 Arena, dubbed 'This Is It'. The concerts which were due to kick off on July 8th but were delayed to begin on July 13th. Over 750,000 tickets were purchased for the O2 sold-out shows.

According to reports, AEG had agreed to 'self-insure' the shows after most insurance companies expressed doubts on whether the singer would be able to complete the residency. A report published in Reinsurance magazine found that there was little demand in the London insurance market for the policy to cover all 50 dates. The first 10 gigs are believed to have been placed on the London insurance market at a value of £80 million pounds, reported Times Online.

The report further revealed that rather than lowering expectations for the shows, the company kept saying that Jackson would present the most spectacular live show seen on an indoor stage.

Jackson's death will also have serious implications for ticket resellers.

Due to the huge demand for the shows, many tickets were traded on marketplace and ticket exchange sites for far above their face value. All those tickets may now need to be reimbursed in what could be an unprecedented request for ticket sellers to honour the sites money back guarantees.

Anyone purchasing tickets through ticket sellers, such as Ticketmaster and other primary sellers, will be entitled to a full refund as stipulated in the terms and conditions of the event. Those that purchased through ticket marketplaces such as Viagogo, Seatwave or GetMeIn will also be entitled to a full refund.

If tickets were purchased from private sellers though, such as EBay, then no terms and conditions are stipulated and so the buyer may not have any set legal rights. In such cases, the best ticketholders can hope for is a friendly agreement with the ticket seller to hand back their money in exchange for the tickets. The seller could then apply for their refund from whomever they bought the tickets from.

Many websites were launched though in an effort to take advantage of the demand for tickets, these sites may likely disappear now to avoid reimbursing buyers.

Anyone who spent more than £100 on tickets using their credit card, or often a Visa or Mastercard debit card, can apply to their card provider for compensation if all else fails.

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