Celine Dion fans promised direct access to tickets after outrage over resale mark ups

Fair Go have some really good news for concert fans sick of being ripped off.

Celine Dion fans are being promised direct access to tickets after the superstar's New Zealand promoter banned sales on Ticketmaster's Resale website.

Frontier Touring took the bold move after announcing a third show for Dion, to try to stop the massive resale mark ups seen on tickets for her first two New Zealand shows.

Celine fans across the country were furious after missing out on tickets to the first two shows in general sales, only to find plenty of seats available on Ticketmaster Resale - at much higher prices.

Frontier's New Zealand chief Brent Eccles says ticket scalping and reselling is hurting the industry.

"Three people are being ripped off," he says. "The artist, the fan, and the promoter."

Eccles says Frontier has lobbied for some time to have Ticketmaster stop listings on its Resale site.

"We've had no luck until Celine. And it's been a lot of pressure we've put on them," he said.

"There was quite a bit of negotiation, shouting you might say."

Ticketmaster wouldn't respond to questions about the arrangement to restrict sales for the third show.

Instead, it issued a statement stating its priority was to "help artists get as many tickets as possible into the hands of fans".

Ticketmaster also states it has never "directly" placed tickets on resale websites like Viagogo or Ticketmaster Resale.

The company has previously refused to reveal the identity of the "in trade" ticket sellers on its secondary platform.

Eccles says there's only one way secondary ticket sales can be stopped - and that's a law change.

"The more the public talk about it the better, because then the Government will be forced to do something about it," he says.

Frontier's announcement will see two pre-sales - for Frontier fans and American Express members, before a general sale on March 22.

Frontier is encouraging anyone hoping to buy tickets to use links on either the Celine Dion website or Frontier Touring website to access the authorised ticket selling website.

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