Six US Senators have launched the ‘Followers First Act’ as one other means to handle stay occasion ticketing reforms. The act hopes to extend transparency in ticketing gross sales.
The bipartisan invoice was dropped at Congress by John Cornyn (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Peter Welch (D-VT), and and Ben Ray Luján (D-NM). Demand for Taylor Swift and Beyonce tickets all through the course of 2022 and 2023 has prompted Congress to take motion on speculative ticket pricing, junk charges, and anti-trust violations.
A number of Taylor Swift followers sued Ticketmaster for ‘fraud and price-fixing’ following the primary on-sale occasions for the Eras tour. They allege Ticketmaster allowed scalpers to purchase nearly all of tickets to resale on its secondary market—the place Ticketmaster additionally receives a reduce of the jacked up worth.
“As a result of no different venue can maintain half as many individuals because the stadiums and venues working by means of Ticketmaster, Taylor Swift and different fashionable musicians haven’t any alternative however to work with Ticketmaster,” that lawsuit reads. It was one of many first fits that started the domino prepare of motion we’re seeing now.
The Followers First Act seeks to enhance worth transparency for tickets and resellers in a number of methods. All-in pricing means there might be no shocked on the last checkout display with ‘junk charges’ tacked on to the ticket worth. It additionally requires sellers to tell the purchaser if they’re buying from a main vendor or secondary ticket reseller.
The act additionally consists of some provisions to strengthen the Higher On-line Ticket Gross sales (BOTS) Act, signed into regulation in 2016. The invoice would additionally create a reporting web site for followers to challenge complaints to be monitored by the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC).
“With the introduction of the Followers First Act at the moment, the Recording Academy applauds Senators Klobuchar, Cornyn, Blackburn, Luján, Wicker and Welch for taking this essential step in direction of complete ticketing reform,” mentioned Harvey Mason Jr., CEO of the Recording Academy. “As we work collectively to enhance the ticket market, we urge Congress to behave on this invoice and proceed its effort to guard each artists and followers by growing transparency and limiting unhealthy actors that take away from the joyous expertise of stay music.”