WASHINGTON – The US Senate introduced a long-awaited Bill on Dec 8 promising consumer protections for tickets to live entertainment events, after more than a year of complaints about high fees, out-of-control prices and deceptive selling practices in the entertainment world.
The Bill, called the Fans First Act, would require sellers to disclose the full price of a ticket, including all fees; indicate what seat or section a customer is gaining access to; and say whether a ticket is being offered by its original or “primary” seller, as opposed to a reseller or broker.
The Bill, introduced by Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Senator Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., along with four others, would also strengthen an existing law banning the use of computer bots, a tactic frequently used by scalpers; require ticket sellers to offer full refunds when an event is cancelled; set thousands of dollars in penalties for abuse; and require the Government Accountability Office to study the ticketing market and make recommendations.
The proposed law comes as ticketing has become a hot-button issue for voters and lawmakers, with prices at record highs and the selling practices of both primary ticketing companies – such as Ticketmaster, which tends to represent artists and venue box offices – and resale marketplaces including StubHub and Vivid Seats having come under fire.
At a Judiciary Committee hearing in January, two months after Ticketmaster’s system crashed during a Taylor Swift presale, senators from both parties pilloried an executive from Live Nation – which owns Ticketmaster – and called the company a monopoly that harms consumers.
At his State of the Union address in February, President Joe Biden said: “We can stop service fees on tickets to concerts and sporting events and make companies disclose all the fees upfront.” And in June, under pressure from the White House, ticket sellers including Ticketmaster and SeatGeek agreed to introduce “all-in pricing” for tickets.
That scrutiny has developed as the concert industry had its biggest year ever, with the trade publication Pollstar saying that gross ticket sales for the Top 100 worldwide tours were US$9.17 billion (S$12.3 billion) in 2023, up 46 per cent from the year before, and 65 per cent from 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the industry. NYTIMES
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