Case Study: Glastonbury Festival’s Ticket Registration System

Introduction

Imagine hosting a festival so popular that tickets sell out within minutes, prompting scalpers to swoop in and resell them at outrageous markups. This was the challenge faced by Glastonbury Festival in the UK, one of the world’s largest and most iconic music festivals. To protect genuine fans and curb ticket touting (scalping), Glastonbury’s organizers implemented a unique ticket registration system that requires fans to sign up with photo ID well before tickets go on sale. This case study explores how Glastonbury’s system works, its pros and cons, and what other festival organizers around the world can learn from this innovative approach.

The Challenge: High Demand and Rampant Scalping

Glastonbury regularly attracts over 200,000 attendees, with demand far exceeding supply every year. In the past, tickets would often appear on secondary markets at inflated prices within hours of selling out. Organizers realized that if they didn’t intervene, touts (scalpers) would continue profiting off fans’ desperation. The goal was clear: ensure tickets end up in the hands of genuine fans at face value, not resellers.

A turning point came in the mid-2000s, when Glastonbury’s founder Michael Eavis decided to take a bold stand against scalping. He introduced a photo-ID registration requirement for anyone wanting to buy a ticket (www.efestivals.co.uk). This move was meant, in Eavis’s words, to “stop ticket touting altogether,” although he acknowledged the new process could be “quite tedious” for attendees (www.efestivals.co.uk). Despite the added hassle, fans embraced the change, understanding it was for the greater good of fairness and community.

At the time this approach was introduced, it was unprecedented at such a scale in the festival world. Today, other events have also adopted anti-scalping measures – from real-name ticketing for some concerts in Asia to personalized, non-transferable passes used by Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival – but Glastonbury’s system remains one of the most robust and long-running solutions.

How Glastonbury’s Ticket Registration System Works

Glastonbury’s ticketing process is unlike a typical first-come, first-served sale. It involves two key stages:

• Pre-Registration (Well Before Ticket Sales): Prospective attendees must register online (or via mail in early years) weeks or even months ahead of the ticket sale. Registration requires providing personal details and uploading a passport-style photo. Every individual aged 13 or over who plans to attend needs their own registration. Once approved, the person receives a unique registration number (ID) that’s tied to their name and photo (www.efestivals.co.uk) (www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk). This database of registrants is the foundation of Glastonbury’s system – only those pre-registered can attempt to buy tickets on sales day.

• Ticket Sale Day: When tickets finally go on sale (often in October for the following June’s festival), buyers must enter the registration numbers and details (such as postcode or email) for each ticket they want to purchase. Glastonbury allows group bookings (e.g. up to 6 tickets per transaction), but every ticket requires a valid unique registration ID at checkout (www.efestivals.co.uk). In practice, friends or family who plan to attend together have to all be registered beforehand, and one person can then book tickets for the group using everyone’s IDs. Payment is taken (historically a deposit is paid per ticket, with the balance due later), and the tickets are locked in under those names.

• Personalized Ticket Fulfillment: Several weeks before the event, physical tickets are dispatched. Each ticket is printed with the name and photograph of the registered holder (www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk). This means the ticket is essentially personalized and non-transferable – it’s only meant to be used by the person whose face is on it. Upon arriving at the festival gates, security staff perform ID checks and visually compare each ticket’s photo to the person presenting it, ensuring that only the rightful ticket owner is admitted.

• Controlled Resale/Transfer: What if a ticket holder can’t go to the festival after all? Glastonbury provides an official resale platform for a limited period. Those who can’t attend are allowed to cancel their tickets (usually for a refund minus a fee), and these tickets are then resold to other pre-registered users through the festival’s authorized channels. There’s no way to change the name/photo on a ticket except via this official process. Importantly, any resold ticket still goes to someone from the registered pool of buyers, at the standard price. This tightly managed resale system prevents scalpers from exploiting cancellations – no arbitrary markups or street corner deals.

Benefits of Glastonbury’s System

Glastonbury’s photo ID registration system has been widely praised as a game-changer in ticketing for several reasons:

• Dramatic Reduction in Scalping: The primary success of the system is the near-elimination of ticket scalping for the festival. Because every ticket is tied to a real person’s identity (with a photo to prove it), it became virtually impossible for brokers to buy dozens of tickets and resell them. An industry observer noted that Glastonbury’s registration scheme meant “all of the tickets now go to genuine buyers, with touts just about cut out of the process” (www.efestivals.co.uk). Other major festivals that don’t use such personalized tickets continue to see rampant touting, whereas Glastonbury has largely solved that problem. By closing the door on unauthorized resale, the festival ensures real fans (not bots or scalpers) are the ones attending.

• Fairer Access for Fans: This approach levels the playing field for ordinary fans. Everyone with a registration has an equal shot during the ticket sale, and there’s no secondary market price gouging to worry about later. Fans appreciate that the organizers actively protect them from being priced out. The registration requirement is part of an “ongoing (and successful) campaign to stop touts,” according to the BBC (www.bbc.co.uk). In practice, it means if you’re lucky enough to get a ticket, you pay face value and that ticket remains yours alone – no one can outbid you for it after the fact.

• Community Trust and Goodwill: Over time, fans have come to trust the system. They know that if they follow the rules (register on time, be ready on sale day), they have a fair chance. There’s a sense of community in that everyone is playing by the same rules to get tickets, rather than competing against shady resellers. Glastonbury’s brand image benefits from this goodwill – the festival is seen as putting fans first, rather than just caring about selling out at any cost. This loyalty is invaluable for long-term success.

• Data and Audience Insights: An often-overlooked benefit is that registration provides the festival with a large database of interested attendees. Organizers learn roughly how many people intend to try for tickets (since hundreds of thousands might register each year, far more than the ticket allotment). They can gather basic demographics (age, location, etc.) from registration data, which can inform planning and marketing. Having direct contact info for so many fans also allows targeted communication – for example, sending reminders about ticket sale dates or key festival announcements. (Of course, this data must be handled carefully and in line with privacy laws, but it’s a useful resource if managed properly.)

• Security and Fraud Prevention: Personalized tickets with photos greatly reduce fraud at the gate. It’s much harder for someone to use a stolen or duplicated ticket when each is linked to a specific person. The photo acts as a second layer of verification beyond just a barcode. This gives the security team confidence that each ticket is legitimate, streamlining entry and catching any attempts at misuse (such as someone trying to use a ticket with somebody else’s face on it).

Drawbacks and Challenges

While effective, Glastonbury’s ticket registration system is not without its downsides. Both organizers and fans have had to contend with several challenges:

• Increased Complexity for Fans: From a customer perspective, the process adds extra steps and barriers. A casual music fan who decides last-minute to attend Glastonbury will find it impossible unless they pre-registered well in advance. The need to upload a proper photo and fill out details can deter people who aren’t tech-savvy or who feel it’s too much hassle for a ticket. Some fans have complained that the system is cumbersome, especially compared to ordinary concerts where you just click “Buy Ticket.” In essence, Glastonbury asks its audience to do homework (registration) before they can even try to give the festival their money – an unusual ask in the events world. This friction means the most dedicated fans don’t mind, but more tentative attendees might drop off.

• Registration Deadlines and FOMO: Glastonbury typically closes its registration before tickets go on sale. This cutoff is essential to manage the database and prevent last-second fake accounts, but it inevitably means a few would-be attendees miss out simply because they didn’t register in time. Every year, there are stories of people who “would have tried for a ticket if only they’d known about the registration.” This can cause frustration and fear of missing out (FOMO) in those who missed the memo. Organizers have to work hard to publicize the registration requirement every cycle so that newcomers are aware and don’t get left behind.

• Administrative and Logistical Burden: From the organizer’s side, maintaining a registration system with photos is a significant undertaking. It requires:

• A secure online infrastructure to collect and store personal data and images for hundreds of thousands of people.
• Staff or automated systems to review and approve photos (ensuring they meet guidelines, aren’t inappropriate, etc.).
• Printing personalized tickets (which is costlier and slower than generic ticket printing) and coordinating secure delivery to each buyer. Glastonbury mails out tickets via courier to prevent theft, adding cost.
• Implementing strict identity checks at the festival gates. Training entry staff to efficiently verify photos against faces in the midst of huge crowds is no small task.

All these steps add expense and complexity to the festival’s operations. Smaller festivals may not have the resources to handle such a system, and even for Glastonbury it’s a year-round administrative project.

• No Transferability – a Blessing and a Curse: Non-transferable tickets are great for stopping scalpers, but they can inconvenience genuine fans in some scenarios. Life happens – someone might fall ill or have an emergency preventing them from attending. With a normal ticket, they could give it to a friend or sell it to someone else. With Glastonbury tickets, that’s not allowed; the original buyer must go through the formal refund-and-resale process or else the ticket goes unused. By the time of the festival, the official resale windows are over, meaning a ticket can’t change hands last-minute. Some critics argue this rigidity can lead to wasted tickets or discourage buyers who aren’t 100% sure they can attend at purchase time. It’s a trade-off between fairness and flexibility.

• Persisting Stress on Sale Day: It’s worth noting that even with pre-registration controlling who can buy, the demand for Glastonbury is so intense that the actual ticket sale is still a stress test. Hundreds of thousands of registered fans flood the ticketing website the instant it opens. Technical issues have occurred (website crashes or slowdowns due to the load), and not everyone who registers will get a ticket. The festival has implemented virtual waiting rooms and queues to try and make the buying process feel less chaotic (www.theguardian.com), but inevitably many fans end up disappointed simply because supply is limited. In other words, the registration system doesn’t magically make getting a ticket easy – it just makes it fairer by keeping bots and scalpers out of the mix. Organizers still face PR challenges each year dealing with fans’ frustrations about the ticketing process.

• Public Perception and Learning Curve: When first introduced, Glastonbury’s system was novel and required educating the audience. There was initial skepticism: would uploading personal photos and IDs be safe? Was it an invasion of privacy? Over time, those concerns have waned as the system proved its worth, but any event considering this approach should be prepared to clearly communicate why these measures are necessary. Transparency about how the data (photos, personal info) will be used and protected is crucial to get public buy-in.

Lessons for Festival Organizers

Glastonbury’s experience offers valuable lessons for festival and event organizers worldwide, especially those grappling with high ticket demand or scalping issues:

• Assess Your Event’s Needs: Not every festival requires such an involved system. Consider the nature of your event:
• High-demand, iconic festivals (where tickets sell out instantly and attract resellers) have the most to gain from a Glastonbury-like approach. Examples might include major international festivals or niche events with limited capacity and rabid fanbases.

• Smaller or local festivals that don’t typically sell out, or events trying to grow their attendance, might not want to add any hurdles to buying tickets. For them, a simpler sales process might be better to encourage more buyers.

• Partial Measures – A Spectrum of Solutions: You don’t necessarily need to copy Glastonbury’s system wholesale to benefit from its principles. There are intermediate steps you can take to improve fairness:

• Verified Fan Presales: Many organizers implement a registration or lottery-style presale for fans. Fans sign up with an email (and perhaps some vetting questions or CAPTCHA to weed out bots) ahead of ticket day. They then receive a code or access to a special sale. This is less intensive than collecting photo IDs, but it still adds a layer of friction that can deter automated scalpers and reward real fans.
• Personalized Tickets (Name on Ticket): Some events choose to print the buyer’s name on tickets (without a photo) and require matching ID at entry. This can discourage casual resale because a ticket-holder knows their name is attached. It’s not foolproof (people can still attempt to buy from strangers and hope security doesn’t check too hard), but it raises the barrier for scalpers. For example, large music events in parts of Europe and Asia have adopted “ID required” policies to combat touting, similar in spirit to Glastonbury’s method.
• Caps and Purchase Limits: Enforcing strict ticket limits per customer (e.g. 4 or 6 tickets max) and using one account per buyer can prevent bulk buying. Glastonbury achieves this via requiring different registration IDs for each ticket – effectively a one-ticket-per-person rule (with group booking only possible by linking unique person IDs). Any festival can implement a cap, but you might combine it with requiring each attendee’s name upfront to strengthen it.

• Delayed Ticket Delivery / Digital Tickets: Some festivals issue digital tickets or wristbands closer to the event date, sometimes to the purchaser’s mobile app, to thwart early resale. If tickets cannot be downloaded or transferred until shortly before the show, scalpers are less likely to sell something they don’t yet have. This approach, used by certain concerts and festivals, can complement a registration system.

• Leverage Technology and Ticketing Platforms: Modern ticketing platforms offer tools that can replicate much of what Glastonbury built – without you having to reinvent the wheel. For instance, Ticket Fairy’s platform takes an end-to-end approach to ticket personalization and anti-scalping. Organizers can require personal information for each ticket (ensuring each ticket is tied to a verified individual) and even enable an inbuilt secure resale system for fans who can’t attend (www.ticketfairy.com/blog). By using a ticketing provider with anti-tout features, you can deter scalpers while maintaining a smoother experience for genuine buyers.

• Plan for Customer Support and Communication: If you introduce any kind of registration or identity-based ticketing, be ready to support your audience through the process. Provide clear instructions for how to register, deadlines to do so, and what to expect on ticket sale day. Use multiple channels (email, social media, press releases) to get the word out. It helps to frame it positively: emphasize that these steps are in place to ensure fairness and an even playing field for all fans. Also, ensure your support team can handle queries like “I uploaded the wrong photo, how do I change it?” or “I missed the registration window, is there any hope?” Being responsive will build trust and reduce frustration.

• Legal and Privacy Considerations: Collecting personal data (especially photos, which are sensitive biometric data) comes with responsibilities. Make sure you comply with local privacy laws (e.g. GDPR in Europe) and have a clear privacy policy. Glastonbury, for instance, must securely handle hundreds of thousands of photos – a significant responsibility. Work with your legal team to ensure that your registration forms and processes are compliant and that user data is protected from breaches. The last thing you want is a privacy scandal undermining an otherwise well-intentioned system.

• Be Flexible and Learn: Even Glastonbury has tweaked its approach over the years. They’ve updated registration requirements, added new online queueing methods to handle extreme demand (www.theguardian.com), and refined how resale is conducted. As an organizer, gather feedback after each ticket cycle. Did the registration process go smoothly? Were there pain points for users or your team? Use those insights to adapt. Maybe you find you can shorten the registration window, or need to upgrade server capacity, or better educate fans on the steps. Treat it as an ongoing improvement process.

Key Takeaways

• Personalized Pre-Registration Can Defeat Scalpers: Glastonbury Festival’s photo ID registration system has virtually eliminated ticket scalping, ensuring tickets go to real fans (www.efestivals.co.uk). This proves that requiring identity verification (photos, names, etc.) can dramatically curb touting and bot purchases.
• Fairer Ticketing at a Cost: The system made ticket sales more fair – fans pay face value and have equal chances – but it also adds friction. Extra steps like advance registration and ID checks can be seen as cumbersome, so organizers must weigh the benefits against the potential to discourage some buyers.
• Not One-Size-Fits-All: Such a rigorous ticketing approach is best suited for high-demand events that struggle with resale abuse. Smaller or emerging festivals might not need it. Organizers should assess their event’s popularity and scalping risk before adopting a Glastonbury-style system.
• Partial Solutions Exist: You don’t need to print photos on tickets to improve fairness. Options like requiring account registration, printing buyer names on tickets, limiting transfers, or using delayed digital ticket delivery can all help reduce scalping without going fully into photo ID territory.
• Use the Right Ticketing Tools: Modern ticketing platforms (like Ticket Fairy) provide built-in anti-scalping features – from personalized tickets with attendee info to secure resale marketplaces – making it easier to implement these measures. Leverage technology so you don’t have to build a system from scratch.
• Communication and Transparency Are Key: If you introduce a registration or identity-based ticket system, communicate clearly with your audience. Explain why it’s being done (to protect fans), how it works, and ensure you support them through the process. Transparency will increase acceptance of the extra steps.
• Balancing Act: Ultimately, festival organizers must strike a balance between convenience and control. Glastonbury’s case shows that sacrificing a bit of convenience can massively increase fairness and trust. By studying this case and understanding your own audience, you can decide how far to go in tailoring your ticketing system to benefit genuine attendees and guard against scalpers.