The Taylor Swift concert ticket debacle two years ago that left thousands of fans unable to snag a spot at her Eras Tour, has led state and federal lawmakers to take aim at sales practices that they say deceive and prey on music fans.
Arizona, where Swift kicked off the Eras Tour in March 2023 with two shows in Glendale, recently passed a law nicknamed the ‘Taylor Swift Act’ that outlaws using automated software to buy gobs of event tickets only to scalp them at exorbitant prices.
This is exactly what happened in November 2022 during the Ticketmaster pre-sale for Swift’s tour. When site crashes and long waits plagued the process for millions of fans, many paid thousands of dollars to buy them through resellers, also known as secondary sellers, or were tricked by sites selling fake tickets.
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A main goal of venues and musicians lobbying the government is to outlaw speculative sales when a secondary seller offers a ticket they do not yet have. In some cases, they ask thousands of dollars for a ticket that they can buy later from the primary seller for $200 or less and reap the profit.
In Maryland, a new law similar to Arizona’s will make speculative ticket sales illegal starting July 1.
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Taylor Swift performs during the Eras Tour at the National Stadium on March 02, 2024 in Singapore
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Swift accepts the Album Of The Year award for ‘Midnights’ onstage during the 66th Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 04, 2024 in Los Angeles, California
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Arizona’s Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs (pictured center) signed the ‘Taylor Swift Act’ into law in April 2024
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Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift embrace after the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII at Allegiant Stadium on February 11, 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada
‘This is a huge first step,’ said Audrey Fix Schaefer, communications director for I.M.P., the company that operates Maryland’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and other venues that often receive complaints if consumers pay high prices or fail to receive promised tickets.
So-called spec tickets often are advertised with warnings such as ‘only 4 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.
Swift has not yet commented on the ticketing proposals as of Thursday, and a representative for the 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.
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Billie Eilish, along with other artists, wrote a letter in support of a Senate bill cracking down on speculative ticket sales called the Fans First Act
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Swift performs onstage for the opening night of her Eras Tour at State Farm Stadium on March 17, 2023 in Swift City, ERAzona (Glendale, Arizona). The city of Glendale, Arizona was ceremonially renamed to Swift City for March 17-18 in honor of the Eras Tour
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Pete Wentz and Andy Hurley of Fall Out Boy (pictured April 1, 2024). The rock band supports the Fans First Act
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Billie Joe Armstrong (center) and Mike Dirnt (right) of Green Day, another rock band that supports the Fans First Act
On Thursday, 250 artists 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 U.S. Senate that bolsters a 2016 law targeting bots on ticket sites.
No votes on the measure have been scheduled, and it has just seven cosponsors.
If passed, the legislation would prevent speculative ticket sales when a seller does not have a ticket, outlaw deceptive websites and strengthen enforcement of penalties for bot usage to scoop up tickets.
The Fans First Act would also require ‘all-in’ pricing, the practice of pricing a ticket’s cost with fees upfront and not springing hidden charges on the consumer at checkout.
‘We are joining together to say that the current system is broken,’ the artists 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 favorite artists at a fair price.’
President Joe Biden got Ticketmaster and SeatGeek to commit to so-called ‘all-in’ or ‘upfront’ pricing of tickets at a White House event last June as part of his effort to crack down on what he calls ‘junk fees’ imposed by ticket companies, banks, airlines and others.
‘There’s more to do to address the problem of online ticketing,’ Biden said at the time.
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President Biden makes remarks on ‘junk fees’ in the South Court Auditorium at the White House on June 15, 2023. Photo by Shutterstock
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Biden’s junk fee proposals extend to banks and airlines, not just ticketing companies
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Finneas O’Connell and Billie Eilish pose in the press room during the 96th Annual Academy Awards on March 10, 2024 in Hollywood, California
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Swift arrives at 66th Grammy Awards on February 4, 2024
While Ticketmaster has abided by its pledge to show the real price for tickets on its site, SeatGeek was flouting its commitment as soon as two days after the event with Biden, Rolling Stone reported.
SeatGeek has gotten around this pesky wrinkle in their business model by allowing their users to toggle on a ‘price including fees’ setting, which will show the actual sticker shock.
Ticket-selling platforms said they supported some of the proposed legislative changes, including outlawing speculative sales.
Ticketmaster said it backed bans on speculative sales and deceptive websites, as well as better enforcement of anti-bot legislation.
StubHub said it ‘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.’
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.’
StubHub said it supports U.S. 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 artist 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.
Stephen Parker, executive director of NIVA, said that bill is ‘the most fan- and artist-friendly ticketing legislation that Congress has ever introduced.’
‘It makes illegal the abusive, predatory behavior from predatory resale platforms and ticket brokers,’ he said, and also calls for a national evaluation of the ticket resale market.
