A new bill introduced by an influential California senator takes aim at Ticketmaster, whose control of the entertainment industry has long plagued concertgoers with its fees and out-of-control pricing.
Buffy Wicks, a Democrat who currently chairs the Assembly Appropriations Committee, has introduced legislation that her office said would give event-goers more options when purchasing event tickets.Politics, this is first report in wicks new legislation, describing a policy that would “remove restrictions on ticket resale” while creating more choice for consumers. Weeks envisions a future scenario more akin to the consumer experience on travel websites, where event attendees can choose between a variety of different sellers rather than just a one-size-fits-all platform.
The goal of Wicks’ legislation was to “Exclusivity” clauseHistorically, platforms such as Ticketmaster have given consumers choice by allowing them to take ownership of venues and prohibiting them from entering into contracts with other ticket sellers.as some critics say Already noticedTicketmaster’s exclusive contracts effectively put venues in a bind, forcing them to accept the company’s tough terms or risk being unable to book the superstars Ticketmaster reserves for themselves.
Wicks legislation, AB2808, introduced in the California state Legislature in February, would force ticket sellers such as Ticketmaster to include an API that would allow competing sellers to offer event tickets on their own platforms. The bill would further make it “unlawful” for ticket providers or venues to “provide services” [ticketing] “Providing services in an exclusive or discriminatory manner, subject to regulations,” presumably refers to exclusive arrangements where a company like Ticketmaster monopolizes all ticket sales. The bill would also free up the ticket reseller market and provide consumers with more choices. Businesses found to be violating the law will be ordered to pay fines.
“We want to make sure we provide competition and choice for consumers so we don’t end up in a situation like a Taylor Swift concert where it was like ‘Lord of the Flies’ was trying to grab tickets,” Wicks told Politico.
Since its inception, Ticketmaster has been the de facto place to buy tickets to concerts and sporting events Completed $2.5 billion merger with large venue operator Live Nation in 2010. The merger pushed two industry giants into each other’s arms, creating monopolies that looked and functioned similarly.Some forecasts estimate that the two companies combined Control 70% of the ticketed event market.Although Ticketmaster has become a plague on American concertgoers for many yearsafter regulators really started paying attention to the company serious confusion Ticket sales for superstar pop star Taylor Swift journey of times last year. During the aforementioned disaster, Ticketmaster’s website saw traffic surge to the point of crashing, sparking massive anger and chaos among the Swiftie community. Soon after, the platform angered fans by canceling ticket sales for the Eras tour, citing low inventory.
Will Wicks’ legislation do anything? Hard to say. Laws are introduced every day in the United States, but most of them lead to nothing.Last year, several California lawmakers introduce legislation Designed to leverage Ticketmaster’s powerful control over the ticketing industry; all of these attempts were stymied by heavy lobbying efforts by industry groups.
Gizmodo reached out to Ticketmaster and Wicks for comment, and we will update this story if they respond.