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Legislation could finally put an end to brokers being allowed to price gouge
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Photo by FemaleFirst: Did a Bruce show start this?
Relief may be coming soon for music fans sick of being shut out of ticket buying due to scalpers. New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram has proposed legislation that could regulate this very shady segment of ticket sales. For an industry that has found itself unregulated and free of rules for years this year may mark a significant change and a slap in the face of scalpers/brokers. This change could make it possible for music fans to get close seats to see their favorite bands without shelling out sometimes in the $1000 range to do so. This seems the perfect time for this to happen considering the ticket industry has been in the news quite a bit of late. There was of course the controversy over many Bruce Springsteen fans being shut out of buying tickets. This actually started the entire campaign by Milgram. In May, she sued three ticket brokers for offering seats to Springsteen shows before they even went on sale. This brought up the concern of fraud and finally prompted an investigation.
This wasn't the first time this has happenned but fan outrage brought this glaring problem to everyone's attention. Other legislators mainly in New York have also tried to enforce stricter penalties like not being able to resell tickets until 48 hours after the onsale date and also refusing to sign legislation that would once again deregulate illegal reselling. Another story that made headlines was the controversial merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which still has lawmakers wondering if this should be permitted due to anti-trust laws. Then there was the controversial issue of Ticketsnow which is owned by Ticketmaster, some fans were crying foul at the thought of a scalper owned by the ticket giant itself. Perhaps the only positive headline for ticket sellers of late was when Live Nation began a recent promotion where select seats for certain shows will be fee free on Wednesdays. All of these stories have put a spotlight on the ticket industry and showed some glaring flaws on how fans get, or in most cases don't get, their money's worth when buying tickets.
While some ideas have been batted back and forth on how to keep scalpers from swooping in and taking all the best seats, most haven't been put into major use yet. But until then proactive measures do need to be taken. Currently artists like Miley Cyrus and No Doubt are testing a new system that is pretty much paperless. For fans to enter the shows it would require both the card used for purchase and ID to be shown. So basically the scalpers don't even get a chance at getting the ticket to resell it. This is a step in the right direction because some of the best ideas have been utilized by the bands themselves. Another example was when the band, Keane sold most of the closest seats in a special VIP promotion so fans could get as close as front row by paying a little extra. But even the little extra for these tickets didn't come close to what a "ticket broker" would charge for the same seats. But one of the best ideas yet was the brilliant move by Green Day when tickets went onsale for their new tour. The band only allowed General Admission seats to be picked up at Will Call. While some fans may have been a bit angered at the idea of picking the tickets up with ID this is a very savvy move. That is because this way no scalpers can get their hands on tickets in advance and mark them up sometimes 5 times face value. Kudos Green Day. Some venues also sell tickets directly themselves but this is also hard to keep scalpers out.
But not every artist or venue comes up with ideas like this or methods to regulate tickets sales. So this makes what Milgram and others are doing in our government so very needed and long overdue. Past attempts such as typing in Captchas before a purchase is complete (Captchas are those weird combinations of words or numbers) but this hasn't 100% thwarted scalpers from getting tickets. Sometimes buying tickets for a show becomes a painful experience because even during presales fans find themselves only offered the worst seats. Yet somehow scalpers have tons of the best tickets for that same show on sale on their sites or Ebay sometimes within a few hours. A $50 ticket could be marked up so high that sometimes the bands fanbase is shut out (see recent sales of Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift tickets). If stealing tickets from kids isn't evil then nothing is. So there needs to be stricter legislation not just for scalpers or brokers but also for entities like Ticketmaster and Live Nation too. Every other major company has their practices examined when red flags go up but who has been holding the ticket industry accountable? The answer is no one, until now. These new measures need to be enacted and enforced to prevent scalpers from taking all the best seats. Fines should be included as well because this is obviously all about the money. So the only way to send a clear message is to hit those who break the rules where it would hurt the most: their wallets. This also effects sports fans, theater fans, etc. because brokers are not relegated to music alone but also have done the same to other forms of entertainment as well. Of course only time will tell whether this will truly work and whether Ticketsnow will be included in any legislation.
But many thanks should go out to Attorney General Milgram and other lawmakers who are standing up for music fans and fans of just honest practices in business as well. They deserve praise for finally addressing an underreported issue that has been going on for years. But even late it still is appreciated that they are holding those accountable who have been able to profit heavily off corrupt activity. Because in today's economy concert tickets remain a hot commodity but many get shut out of taking part in an activity they enjoy. It is time fans who want to sit on the lawn can sit on the lawn but those who have just enough to pay for the face value price of a 10th row seat get that chance. It is especially time that the band gets to choose whether to charge $300 for a ticket not those faceless people fueled by greed who in the blink of an eye steal from music fans, just because they can. Here's to hoping in the near future they will think twice about this and not get the chance to silence the music for those fans who aren't fabulously wealthy.
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