British singer-songwriter Raye said the sign-up process for her October show at London's Royal Albert Hall was flooded by "hundreds of thousands" of AI bots, with only 5,000 seats available.
Here's what to know
According to the BBC, Raye said ticket touts used artificial intelligence bots to target registrations for her one-off performance in London.
Instead of using a pre-sale format she believed scalpers could exploit, her team went through the sign-up list manually to identify people they believed were actual fans to extend a pre-sale code and link by email, while the remaining tickets would go to the general sale.
There were 1.8 million sign-ups for the show with only 5,000 tickets available. The biggest issue is that many of the sign-ups were fake registrations. Writing on her social media accounts, Raye said she had "never witnessed bots on this scale" and stressed that it was "so important" to her that fans could buy tickets at face value.
A spokesperson for the Royal Albert Hall said the venue already puts extensive effort into protecting its ticketing systems from "automated attacks," while also arguing that "the law needs to catch up."
More background
At the concert, titled This Symphony May Contain Hope, Raye will perform songs from her second album, This Music May Contain Hope. The 17-track record combines old-school jazz, orchestral arrangements, blues, big band, and soul on themes of heartbreak, self-doubt, and internet trolling.
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Raye has become one of the most closely watched success stories in British music. After publicly expressing frustration that her label was holding back her debut album, she eventually left that deal and continued as an independent artist.
Her breakout accelerated by late 2022, when "Escapism," featuring U.S. rapper 070 Shake, went viral on TikTok and reached No. 1. She then released her 2023 debut album, My 21st Century Blues, which peaked at No. 2, won a record six Brit Awards, including Album of the Year, and earned a Mercury Prize nomination.
What's being done?
In November, a group of prominent musicians, including Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Sam Fender, signed an open letter urging the U.K. government to take stronger action against online ticket touting and protect concertgoers from inflated resale prices.
The government subsequently proposed legislation to prevent tickets for live events from being resold above their original price. A draft Ticket Tout Bill was introduced in May, but music industry representatives and consumer advocates expressed disappointment over the lack of progress.
"I'm not sure what the future holds for ticketing, I do know this experience has really opened my eyes," Raye said. "Me and my team are going to think really hard about what we can do in the future."
Where can I learn more?
Ticketing has become a widespread problem for both artists and fans.
• Across the music business, human artists are losing money due to an onslaught of AI slop.
• On Billboard, an AI-generated song rattled country stars who called the trend frightening.
• Fans blasted concert ticket prices tied to Kid Rock's 2026 tour plans.
• In Kansas City, Missouri, fans were stranded after Beyoncé's Renaissance show amid ride-share chaos.
• After a music festival, campgrounds were littered with waste that shocked online viewers.
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