Gang Of Youths & Tash Sultana Join Fight To Close 'Disgraceful & Disruptive' Viagogo

Aussie heavyweights Gang Of Youths and Tash Sultana have joined the fight against ticket resale website Viagogo in an attempt to shut the company down. 

In a statement posted online on Monday, Gang Of Youths said, "As many of you have encountered, Viagogo has become one of the most disgraceful and disruptive scams our live industry has faced in recent years. 

"Viagogo impacts promoters, managers, venues, ticket agencies and most importantly artists and their fans. A number of different bodies over the past 12 months have been talking to both State and Federal Government regarding this issue. There is an opportunity to help eradicate this business from Australia. 

"We are calling for as many examples of how this fraudulent operation has affected your business, additionally, we are encouraging artists to also post on their socials so fans can reply with real-life examples of how they have been affected by Viagogo. We intend to give this documentation to the Opposition Party to form part of their campaign pledge to have this site closed down."

Sultana echoed the Sydney outfit's comments, writing on Facebook, "Everybody is working their ass off to achieve their dreams and then you get a bunch of scum bags like these guys who will try multiply your dollar to desperate fans".

It comes after Australian music industry pioneer Michael Chugg told The Music in September that Viagogo is currently "the biggest problem" in the industry right now. 

"The biggest problem is, is that a lot of people, when they want to go to a show, they go straight online, google up the band or the venue and up comes box offices and unfortunately Viagogo have the official box office banner which is a total lie and a lot of people just go in there and buy the tickets at ridiculous prices - sometimes three, four hundred percent more than what the tickets are worth," Chugg said.

The WA Government have also announced new laws against ticket scalpers this week, similar to the laws currently in place in NSW and SA.