LOS ANGELES – The 2022 Taylor Swift concert ticket debacle is leading American state and federal lawmakers to take aim at sales practices that they say are deceptive or predatory to music fans.
A main goal of venues and musicians is to outlaw speculative sales when a seller offers a ticket he or she does not yet have. In some cases, the sellers ask for thousands of dollars for a ticket that they can buy later from the primary seller for US$200 (S$272) or less and reap the profit.
Arizona recently cleared similar legislation and nicknamed the measure the “Taylor Swift Act”.
In November 2022, when fans were unable to snag tickets to the American singer-songwriter’s The Eras Tour through Ticketmaster, many paid thousands to buy them through resellers, also known as secondary sellers, or were tricked by sites selling fake tickets.
In Maryland, a new law will make speculative ticket sales illegal starting July 1.
Swift has not commented on the ticketing proposals, and a representative for the American singer did not respond to a request for comment.
Nationwide, bills have been introduced in two dozen states to address event ticketing practices, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In Illinois, a ban on speculative tickets has passed the state senate. The Colorado House has cleared legislation to require more pricing transparency and a ban on websites designed to mimic legitimate ticket sales sites, which may trick consumers into thinking they are buying directly from a venue.
At the same time, venues and the world’s biggest musicians are pushing for federal reforms.
Companies, including Ticketmaster and SeatGeek, committed to greater transparency – known as “all-in” or “upfront” pricing of a ticket’s cost with fees from the beginning – at a White House event in 2023 with President Joe Biden, as part of his effort to crack down on what he called “junk fees” imposed by ticket companies, banks, airlines and others.
“There’s more to do to address the problem of online ticketing,” Mr Biden said at the time.
On April 25, 250 artistes – including Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, Green Day and Fall Out Boy – voiced support for the Fans First Act, a bill pending in the US Senate. No votes on the measure have been scheduled.
The legislation would prevent speculative ticket sales when a seller does not have a ticket. It also would require “all-in” pricing, outlaw deceptive websites and strengthen enforcement of penalties for bot usage to scoop up tickets.
“We are joining together to say that the current system is broken,” the artistes said in a letter to congressional sponsors of the legislation.
“Predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices, and deprive fans of the chance to see their favourite artistes at a fair price.”
So-called spec tickets are often advertised with warnings such as “only four left”, falsely suggesting to consumers that they should buy immediately or miss out. In some cases, actual tickets never turn up or brokers send fraudulent tickets.
Ticket-selling platforms said they supported some of the proposed legislative changes.
Ticketmaster, a unit of Live Nation Entertainment that sells primary and secondary tickets, said it backed bans on speculative sales and deceptive websites, as well as better enforcement of anti-bot legislation.
StubHub “does not allow the sale of speculative tickets, and sellers found to be in breach of our seller policy face consequences such as fines and removal from the platform”, a company spokesperson said. If a buyer has an issue, “StubHub will find an equivalent or better ticket to get a buyer into an event, or provide a full refund”.
The company said it supports US House and Senate versions of a bill called the Ticket Act. The House version would outlaw speculative ticketing, among other practices, while the Senate measure calls for all-in pricing.
Venues and artiste groups have formed a coalition called Fix The Tix, led by the National Independent Venue Association (Niva), that is pushing for passage of the Fans First Act, which they say offers the strongest protections for ticket buyers.
Mr Stephen Parker, executive director of Niva, said that bill is “the most fan- and artiste-friendly ticketing legislation that Congress has ever introduced”.
“It makes illegal the abusive, predatory behaviour from predatory resale platforms and ticket brokers,” he said, and also calls for a national evaluation of the ticket resale market.
REUTERS
