Entry Tips
From top tips to fun facts, everything you need to ensure making your video is a breeze can be found right here!
Entry Tips
From top tips to fun facts, everything you need to ensure making your video is a breeze can be found right here!
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How to win
We’re looking for videos that:
- Are entertaining and accurate
- Explain why this issue is important to you
- Explain how this issue affects your audience
- Suggest achievable solutions
- Inspire your audience to take action
The Problems
- Bots fill queues and snap up tickets before real fans have a chance
- Secondary ticketing sites sell tickets for up to 600% the original price
- Dynamic pricing and opaque selling practices leave fans struggling to make informed choices
- Ticket prices have risen 521% since the 90s - much more than inflation (101%)
- Industry profits are concentrated at the top while grassroots venues close
- Fans lose millions to scams and hidden fees - £9.7 million was lost to ticket scams last year
Some Solutions
- Here are a few ideas of the things the government could implement to protect fans:
- Details released before tickets go on sale with transparent prices and a ban on dynamic pricing
- An independent ticketing regulator to ensure fans don’t get ripped-off
- A small £1 levy from the top could fund the grassroots future of music - the levy is voluntary now but the government could make it compulsory
- A price cap on ticket resales and a cap on the amount of tickets one person is allowed to sell
- Responsibility for social media companies to make sure their platforms aren’t used by scammers
- Expand the new laws to protect football fans too
Example Video
You can watch our last winner’s video on the topic of the football regulator here
Example Scripts
New to content creating and not sure where to start? Here are some example scripts you could put into your own words to give you a bit of inspiration:
EXAMPLE SCRIPT 1 (GENERAL)
"Ever tried to get a ticket for a massive concert, a big match, or an exclusive gig? It's ridiculous, right? They either sell out in seconds or they’re so expensive it’s impossible to justify.
The whole system is completely broken. They need to ban bots, ban dynamic pricing and stop resale sites from selling 5 times above face value!
If you agree - and want to make that happen - head to WillYouFix.org and sign the petition calling for MPs to fix this mess, and to pledge not to take gifts from ticket companies.
Let’s make sure they fix tickets, and do it right!”
EXAMPLE SCRIPT 2 (MUSIC VENUES)
“Live music is part of the UK’s creative heartbeat. But local music venues are disappearing. Over 660 have closed down since 2010. Yet big companies like Ticketmaster make billions.
There’s a way to help those venues - a £1 levy on tickets at large venues could fund the grassroots future of music. It was recommended by the government in 2024, but is currently voluntary.
We need to make this mandatory! And 93% of people agree with this. So why hasn’t it happened?
The government is bringing in new laws on tickets and the ticket companies won’t want this levy to be included, so head to WillYouFix.org and sign the petition calling for MPs to pledge not to take gifts from them!
Unless the ticketing system is fixed, we risk losing not only our small venues but the next generation of artists and fans alike.”
EXAMPLE SCRIPT 3 (FOOTBALL)
“I’m fed up of seeing football matches where the atmosphere is flat because the stadium is full of tourists instead of loyal fans. Fans have to try to buy their tickets in a lottery or risk getting scammed by buying them from the black market - and even if they’re real, they still cost twice the price!
If you want to go to an away match that’s not in the Premier League there’s no price cap, so you end up paying for travel and an expensive ticket on top. This isn’t fair.
The government should include football in their new ticketing laws so we don’t have to rely on out of date legislation from 1994!
Sign the petition now at WillYouFix.org and ask MPs not to take gifts from ticket companies. Why should they be able to go see a match for free when we’re left getting ripped off?”
Example caption: “I’m entering the @InfluenceBoostAwards to make ticketing work for fans. Help me spread the word and fix tickets. Tag your favourite creator in the comments so they can join in too!”
We encourage you to use your own words in the caption, but you must tag @InfluenceBoostAwards and mention you’re taking part in the competition, to comply with advertising regulations.
Shocking Facts About Tickets
The UK’s live music economy is huge.
- The music industry added a record £8 billion to the UK economy in 2024 - up 5% on last year.
- 220,000 people work in UK music
- British music exports hit £4.8 billion, thanks to artists like Charli xcx and Lola Young.
- The wider creative industries are worth £124 billion, making them bigger than aerospace, insurance, and charity sectors combined.
Yet despite this success, the system that supports it is broken at the ground level.
Tickets have become unaffordable and untrustworthy.
- The average UK ticket price has risen 521% since the mid-1990s, compared to 101% general inflation.
- Live Nation and Ticketmaster control over 80% of the global market (66.4% of the UK market in 2025), often owning the venue, selling the ticket, and managing the artist.
- Ticketmaster’s profits have hit 36–37% margins, while small venues and artists struggle to survive.
- 93% of fans back a £1 levy on arena and stadium tickets to help grassroots venues.
Fans are also under attack from scams.
- £9.7 million was lost to ticket scams last year.
- 54% of fraud cases involve Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram), according to law enforcement data.
- A Reuters investigation (Nov 2025) revealed Meta made billions in ad revenue from fraudulent ticket ads and fake resale listings.
And when tickets are resold, mark-ups can exceed six times their original price.
Video Tips
Set Up
Not an experienced creator yet? That’s ok! Here are some ideas to get you started: Set up Making a video about music tickets? You could film outside a venue, or throw on your favourite band shirt and film in front of some framed records in your room. Making a video about football? Wear a football shirt and film outside a stadium, or on a local playing field. Make sure wherever you’re filming is well lit and isn’t too noisy for you to be heard.
Editing
Try to remove any umms or long pauses in your edit. Start strong so people don’t scroll past and make sure it’s interesting throughout to encourage people to watch to the end. There’s no limit to how long your video can be if it’s interesting all the way through, but keeping under 90 seconds means it’s more likely to be shown in the Reels tab and can be boosted
Finishing touches
Make sure to add subtitles and a caption to help the algorithm understand what your video is about. Use an exciting thumbnail that will encourage people to watch the video. Avoid copyright issues by adding music separately on the platform when you upload your video.
Winning
Post your video to multiple platforms! In order to win the £1000 prize you must achieve 5000 views and the views on multiple platforms can be added together, making it more likely to reach the goal. Enter as early as possible - we’re giving away paid reach to random entries every day so the sooner you enter, the more chances you have of winning!
The Government’s Plans
The government has announced it wants to fix tickets, but there is no date for when this will happen and until it’s in law - nothing is set in stone. We need to create as much noise as we can around this issue to make sure they do it properly and not miss anything out. For example, although the government plans to introduce a cap on re-sales, there are currently no plans to ban dynamic pricing.
The ticket companies want to stop these new rules from being implemented, so it’s vital that we get MPs to pledge not to accept any gifts or donations from them.
There are also currently no plans to include football in the new ticketing laws, failing to address the thousands of tickets sold for inflated prices on the black market, or the teams outside the Premier League still charging above the £30 away price cap.
Why we’re asking MPs to make a pledge
The government has promised to introduce changes to solve many of these problems. But if MPs are taking gifts from the companies that profit from the current system, how can we trust them to make the changes necessary to fix it?
We're asking MPs to make a clear, public promise: Pledge not to accept any donations from ticketing companies.
See WillYouFix.org for the petition.
Sources & Further Reading
For deeper research, podcasts, documentaries, and case studies, visit: drownedinsound.org/gig-tickets/
Core Sources:
- UK Music “This Is Music 2025” report
- UK Government consultation on resale price caps (Jan–Oct 2025)
- BBC and Victoria Derbyshire investigations into dynamic pricing
- FanFair Alliance survey data (2025)
- Music Venue Trust: “Grassroots Music Venues” inquiry (2024)
- Reuters (Nov 2025): Meta earning billions from fraudulent ticket ads
- UK Music, DCMS, and ONS economic impact statistics (2024–2025)
Glossary of Key Terms:
Dynamic Pricing - When ticket prices automatically rise based on demand, like airline seats, often pushing fans out of the market.
Resale Cap - A legal limit on how much more than face value a ticket can be resold for.
Ticket Levy - A small fee on every large concert ticket (e.g. £1) that funds grassroots music venues and emerging artists.
Bots - Automated programs used by touts to bulk-buy tickets before fans can.
Ticket Regulator - A proposed independent watchdog to oversee fair pricing, anti-fraud rules, and platform accountability.
Who’s Backing The Campaign?
Drowned in Sound : A music publication and podcast championing independent music
Influence Boost Awards: A non-profit platform that helps amplify content that works for everyday people.
Full competition terms and conditions are available here
Live music is part of the UK’s creative heartbeat - a bigger economic force than aerospace or insurance, and one of the nation’s strongest global exports. But unless the ticketing system is fixed, we risk losing the next generation of artists and fans alike.
This isn’t just about getting cheaper tickets - it’s about protecting culture.
Speak up. Take part. Share your voice. This is our moment to bring power back to the fans.