Strain on Congress is heating as much as go laws that can clear up the stay occasions ticketing enterprise following Could’s passage of the Transparency In Prices for Key Occasions Ticketing (TICKET) Act within the Home of Representatives.
The Repair the Tix Coalition, led by the Nationwide Unbiased Venue Affiliation (NIVA), is looking for a nationwide day of motion Tuesday (July 9) to encourage music followers, professionals and supporters to foyer their congressional representatives to go significant laws that can curb the rising downside of ticketing scams and misleading practices within the stay music enterprise.
NIVA and different members of the Repair the Tix coalition, which additionally contains the Recording Academy and the Nationwide Unbiased Expertise Group, are backing their very own laws — the Senate’s Followers First Act, supported by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-Texas), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) — whereas additionally supporting passage of the TICKET Act, which is sponsored by Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla) and Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-N.J.), amongst others.
Each payments would ban the usage of speculative ticket listings on websites like StubHub and SeatGeek, require all-in-pricing earlier than checkout and crack down on the usage of misleading web sites and URLs. The Followers First Act would additionally require resellers to reveal seat places on their resale listings, ban scalpers from utilizing fan golf equipment to purchase up some live performance tickets and embody higher shopper protections for canceled occasions.
Repair The Tix officers are asking followers, artists, and members of the music and efficiency communities to achieve out to Congress on Tuesday to demand motion by the tip of 2024.
The U.S. Home of Representatives handed the TICKET Act in a 388-24 vote on Could 15. The invoice is at the moment earlier than the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.
A case research performed by Repair The Tix throughout 5 impartial venues within the Washington, D.C., space reveals that in 2024, 73,000 speculative tickets totaling an estimated $49 million have been listed on resale platforms. Speculative tickets are tickets that aren’t truly out there for buy however are bought to customers at a substantial markup by sellers who promise to acquire and ship the tickets previous to the live performance. These listings can usually be deceptive and result in fraud.
“The Repair the Tix Day of Motion is a vital second for all of us who consider in honest and clear ticketing,” mentioned Stephen Parker, govt director of NIVA, in a press launch. “It’s a time to raise the voices of followers and artists and harness their energy as constituents. That is greater than a one-day marketing campaign. It’s a collective cry to guard the integrity of stay efficiency. We urge Congress to hearken to the voices of followers and artists and put complete ticketing reform on their checklist of must-pass laws in 2024, alongside different crucial laws comparable to FY 2025 Appropriations and the Farm Invoice.”
Info on how one can contact senators, members of Congress and the White Home for tomorrow’s day of motion may be discovered at fixthetix.org.
