Raye hits back at ticket touts who 'overwhelmed' sign-up for Albert Hall show

Raye has hit back at ticket touts who she says "overwhelmed" the sign‑up process for an upcoming live show by using AI bots to create "hundreds of thousands of fake registrations." The Where Is My Husband! singer revealed there were 1.8 million sign‑ups for her one‑off 5,000‑seat show at the Royal Albert Hall on 23 October. To avoid a pre‑sale that she felt scalpers could exploit, Raye said the sign‑up database had been manually reviewed to compile a shortlist of individuals believed to be "real fans." A spokesperson for the Royal Albert Hall said they "invest heavily" in protecting their ticketing systems from "automated attacks" but the "law needs to catch up." The award‑winning artist said she had "never witnessed bots on this scale" and was changing the process because it is "so important" to her that fans can purchase tickets at face‑value price. She stated, "I'm not definite what the aboriginal holds for ticketing, I bash cognize this acquisition has truly opened my eyes,"a connection shared connected her societal media accounts, external. She added, "Me and my squad are going to deliberation truly hard astir what we tin bash successful the future." Raye said the fans who were manually selected would receive a pre‑sale link and code by email at 11:45 BST on Tuesday, and the pre‑sale opened shortly thereafter. She added that the remaining tickets would be made available to everyone in the general sale. This Symphony May Contain Hope performance will feature songs from her forthcoming chart‑topping second album, This Music May Contain Hope, which blends old‑school jazz with orchestral sound, blues, big band and soul. The 17‑track record is a concept project that examines overcoming heartbreak, self‑doubt and online trolling. Read the full story at BBC News →