STARTO’s New Resale Service Hits Trouble at Launch – Scalping Measures Under Scrutiny

STARTO ENTERTAINMENT (hereafter referred to as STARTO), home to popular groups such as Snow Man, SixTONES, and timelesz, has launched its official concert ticket resale service, “RELIEF Ticket.” STARTO has long been vigilant against the high-priced resale of tickets, and while this marks the long-awaited introduction of a resale service for fans.

The long-standing issue of overpriced resales

On June 23, STARTO Entertainment posted an announcement on its official website titled “Notice on the Launch of the Official Ticket Resale Service for Performances Featuring Our Contracted Talents.” The “RELIEF Ticket” platform, operated by Young Communication Co., allows tickets for eligible performances to be officially resold at face value.

“A resale service enables those who won tickets but can no longer attend due to unavoidable circumstances to transfer their tickets to interested buyers,” explained an entertainment writer. “Since the transaction is processed through RELIEF Ticket, safety measures are in place to prevent trouble. Because there’s no direct interaction between fans, the risks of disputes over payment or inflated ticket resales are greatly reduced.”

STARTO, which took over talent management from the former Johnny & Associates and officially began operations on April 10 last year, has continued to tackle the long-standing issue of ticket scalping. Young Communication, which organizes concerts featuring STARTO’s talents, has previously taken legal action against some ticket resale sites over such concerns.

“Even for recent concerts, STARTO has implemented anti-resale measures at the ticket application stage,” the writer continued. “For example, ‘Naniwa Danshi LIVE TOUR 2025 ‘BON BON VOYAGE’,’ which begins July 19, limited applications to two tickets per performance and required attendee information to be registered at the time of application.

Likewise, for NEWS’s ‘NEWS LIVE TOUR 2025: Henshin,’ starting August 9, entry will require the use of the ‘Ticket App.’ Applicants must register attendee details in advance, and each fan club membership ID must be linked to a single device (either a smartphone or tablet), making it effectively difficult to apply using multiple identities.”

Back on March 19, STARTO had already announced its plans to launch an official resale site by this summer, stating: “We are preparing to launch an official resale site that allows customers unable to attend due to unavoidable reasons to sell their tickets at face value to those who still wish to attend.” The company also reaffirmed its ongoing collaboration with Young Communication to ensure that as many fans as possible can obtain tickets through legal and fair means.

The long-awaited launch of the official resale service

Recently, more and more artists have begun introducing resale services, and on social media, fans have frequently voiced frustration, asking, “Why hasn’t STARTO started a resale system yet?” Despite the growing severity of ticket scalping issues during the former Johnny’s era, an official resale platform had yet to materialize—until now.

However, following through on their March announcement, STARTO finally launched “RELIEF Ticket.” The platform is operated by Pia Corporation, and the first event covered was timelesz’s tour, “We’re timelesz LIVE TOUR 2025 episode 1 ～FAM～,” which kicked off on June 28.

timelesz is a group that saw a surge in popularity after five new members joined this February. Their recent concert tickets were said to be extremely competitive, so when it was announced that the event would be eligible for resale, fans online rejoiced at the renewed chance to attend, saying things like “Maybe I can still go!”

“Fans of STARTO immediately registered for accounts and waited for tickets to be listed,” an industry insider explained. “However, right after the service launched, ‘RELIEF Ticket’ issued an apology over a personal information leak.

On June 23, between 6:15 PM and around 10 PM, a system error allowed some users to view information like addresses, phone numbers, names, and the last three digits of credit card numbers belonging to other registrants. Although the company explained and apologized, stating that we have resolved the issue to prevent users from viewing others’ information, and the system is now operating normally, fans were left confused and deeply concerned about security.”

Next spring marks the final concert of Arashi before they end group activities, and expectations are high that this show will also be covered by the resale service. Given this, it’s all the more important for the team behind “RELIEF Ticket” to work hard at regaining users’ trust.