Raye and her team have changed the ticket distribution process for her upcoming Royal Albert Hall show after AI bots overwhelmed the registration system. The singer received 1.8 million sign-ups for just 5,000 available seats, with the majority believed to be fake registrations created by scalpers using automated software.
Unprecedented bot activity forces manual review
The one-off London performance, scheduled for October 23, will feature Raye alongside her band, The Heritage Orchestra and the Flames Collective choir, in a symphonic reimagining of her album This Music May Contain Hope. Tickets were originally set to go on sale on Thursday, October 15, following a registration process, but the overwhelming response led to a rethink.
In a statement posted on Instagram, Raye and her team said they had “never witnessed bots on this scale” and decided to manually review the sign-up list to identify genuine fans. The post explained: “We received 1.8 million sign-ups for 5,000 seats for This Symphony May Contain Hope. Sadly our sign-up process was overwhelmed by scalpers, using AI bots to create hundreds of thousands of fake registrations.”
New presale process and fan reaction
Under the revised plan, selected fans will receive a presale link and code by email on Tuesday at 11:45am BST, with the presale opening at 12pm. Any remaining tickets will be made available to the general public. Raye acknowledged the uncertainty around future ticketing, stating: “I'm not sure what the future holds for ticketing, I do know this experience has really opened my eyes. Me and my team are going to think really hard about what we can do in the future.”
Fans flooded the comments section with support and calls for change. One person wrote: “I know everyone really appreciates you and your team trying your best to make everything as fair and accessible as possible. Hoping that someday soon this will be less stressful and ticketing can get some proper legal oversight.” Another demanded: “BRING BACK INPERSON TICKET SALES,” while a fourth added: “In person ticket sales would save the world.”
Impact on future events
Raye, a BRIT Award winner and Grammy nominee, emphasised her commitment to ensuring fans can buy tickets at face value. The manual review process is intended to prevent scalpers from exploiting the presale, but the singer admitted the experience has changed her perspective on ticketing. The move highlights growing concerns about AI-driven ticket scalping in the live music industry, as artists and venues seek new ways to protect fans from inflated resale prices.
