LONDON (VIP-NEWS) — The market-leading British music and entertainment retailer will sell the remaining tickets over the counter for the 2008 festival. Seven of HMV's major branches around Britain will offer Glastonbury tickets from 8am this Wednesday.
Each festival goer will be allowed to buy a maximum of six tickets, and will need to provide their name, which will be written on the ticket at the time of purchase.
Ticket holders have been told to bring personal photographic ID when they arrive at the June 27-29 festival to comply with its anti-touting policy.
"With just a couple of weeks to go, we want to make it as easy as possible for people to buy the last few festival tickets," said festival founder and organizer Michael Eavis. "We've got a fantastic line-up, the most beautiful site in the country and I'd love to see you all there."
At deadline, a Glastonbury spokesman had yet to confirm how many tickets were available for the famous outdoor event.
It's the first time in five years that HMV has stocked and sold Glastonbury tickets. HMV's head of music Rudy Osorio says the retailer is "thrilled" to be supporting Glastonbury 2008. "We've been quietly developing our commercial relationships with many of the key promoters, and our stores now act as ticket outlets for most of the big festivals," comments Osorio.
"It helps to align HMV with new artists and with the 'live' space while also generating increased footfall into our stores," he adds.
The decision to sell tickets via HMV represents an about-face for Glastonbury's organizers, but one born out of necessity as this year's edition has so far failed to sell out.
A controversial registration process, which requires festival-goers to submit basic personal details and a photo, was established in 2007 as part of an effort to squeeze out ticket scalpers. Although the entire allocation of 137,500 tickets sold out last year in about 2 hours, the decision to enlist HMV's help confirms that Glastonbury this time has not achieved a sell-out in slightly more than two months since going on sale.
Glastonbury's lethargic ticket sales this year are well-documented, with observers blaming a number of factors including poor weather at previous editions, competition from other festivals, and Jay-Z's booking as a headliner.
Jay-Z has been confirmed to play at the event in Worthy Farm, Somerset, along with other headliners the Verve, Kings of Leon, Hot Chip, Leonard Cohen and hundreds of other artists, according to Billboard
