The British singer has announced that registrations for her Royal Albert Hall concert will be checked manually after AI bots generated hundreds of thousands of fake entries. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said. Real fans risk missing out on tickets because resellers use software to buy them in bulk.

(Staff: United Kingdom / Music & Technology)

British singer Raye is facing an increasingly common problem in the music industry: AI bots that acquire tickets in bulk so they can be resold at exorbitant prices. The 28-year-old artist is due to perform a one-off concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 23 October 2026, featuring her work “This Symphony May Contain Hope”. The venue has only 5,000 seats, yet 1.8 million people registered for the list—and, according to her team, most were bots.

What Raye said

In a message posted on Instagram, Raye explained that the registration process had been overwhelmed by resellers using artificial intelligence to create hundreds of thousands of fake entries. “It’s a new world we live in. I’ve never seen bots on this scale,” she wrote. She announced that she had cancelled the presale and that her team would manually review the list to identify genuine fans. “It’s really important to me that fans can buy tickets at face value,” she added.

How “Scalper” Type Bots Work

Scalper bots are software programs designed to buy tickets faster than human users. They create artificial scarcity and enable resale at inflated prices. The Royal Albert Hall said the “phenomenal demand” for artists such as Raye creates opportunities for “professional resellers to exploit genuine fans”. The venue says it routinely blocks millions of bot requests, including more than 38 million in a single 24-hour period.

“A Form of Organized Crime”

Adam Webb of FanFair Alliance, an organisation campaigning for fans’ rights, told Sky News that what is happening amounts to “a form of organised crime”. He explained that the technology is used to “illegally acquire huge volumes of tickets”, which are then listed on “large and dominant secondary sites”. Webb warned that the industry has become a parasitic market dominated by overseas businesses targeting events in the UK and reselling tickets through unregulated platforms. “Until the law is properly enforced, the pressure falls on artists, and the problem is extremely difficult to solve,” he said.

Background: Raye, an artist with an impressive track record

Raye, whose real name is Rachel Keen, released her debut album “My 21st Century Blues” in 2023. In 2024, she made BRIT Awards history by winning six awards in a single year, an unprecedented record. Her latest album, “This Music May Contain Hope”, was released in March 2026. Her Royal Albert Hall concert is highly anticipated, but her success has also attracted the attention of cybercriminals.

Conclusion

The Raye case is not an isolated one. AI bots and ticket touts are an increasingly serious problem for the live-events industry. Although artists and venues are trying solutions such as manually reviewing registration lists, the problem is systemic and calls for stronger regulation. For fans, the advice is clear: buy tickets only from official sources, and be wary if a price seems far too high.