Freedom Line Blog

A summer whose entertainment headlines were dominated by Taylor Swift and her blowout concert tour just came to an end.  Unsurprisingly, a significant number of those headlines centered upon the ongoing public policy debate over the consumer ticket purchase experience, along with varying and differing calls for reform.

Unfortunately, some of that discussion served to introduce terribly ill-advised proposals that would only make the industry and American consumers’ enjoyment of it far worse.

To be sure, the genesis of the problem underlying various reform proposals is the issue of predatory ticket resellers who engage in harmful practices that hurt fans as well as the artists themselves.  As just one illustration, resale ticket prices at StubHub alone have increased over 100% since as recently as 2019, even while the face value of the tickets being resold have increased only 10%.  No wonder consumers desire reform.

Currently, a complex patchwork of state laws govern the industry, which logically invites Congress to streamline consumer protections while still protecting artists’ underlying rights by prohibiting predatory resellers, ticket brokers and ticketing platforms from disregarding the negotiated contractual terms and conditions between artists and venues in which they perform.  Such federal-level reform should include limitations on price-gougers who seek to resell tickets above their face value.

Unfortunately, some Congressional proposals would make today’s problems infinitely worse.

As an especially egregious example, the “BOSS Act” would impose a Biden Administration-style, heavy-handed, big-government regime that would simply empower federal bureaucrats.  Americans struggling under deepening economic and governmental dysfunction due to Biden Administration policies hardly need instruction on how that’s an unsettling idea.

Specifically, the BOSS Act would empower the rogue Federal Trade Commission (FTC) under activist chair Lina Khan would be granted unprecedented authority to micromanage the ticketing market, set prices despite its lack of expertise or skin in the game, substitute its authority for the freely negotiated agreements for events between artists and other parties, impose ticket inventory rules, dictate timelines and inhibit artists’ ability to keep ticket prices affordable for their actual fans over wealthy corporate purchasers.  Meanwhile, the BOSS Act would do nothing to stop websites from duping fans into believing that they’re officially affiliated with the concert venue or sports teams, nor would it prevent shady sellers from offering tickets they don’t even possess yet.

If nothing else, the FTC’s recent record of successive and embarrassing courtroom defeats for its overreach and extra-legal activities should inform American how bad an idea it would be to suddenly give it free reign to govern the market.

What’s more, the free market has already been coming up with solutions to the longstanding concerns over the ticket purchase experience.  For instance, entertainment promotion and ticket company Live Nation in recent months unveiled an “all-in pricing” idea that took effect this month.  Under that voluntary reform, all-in pricing allows fans to see up-front the full price of tickets, including fees.  That matters, because knowing the total cost of tickets from the beginning makes purchase easier and more in line with other types of online shopping.

Congress, however, can still play a helpful role beyond those free market improvements.  Better enforcement of the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, for instance, would guarantee that real, actual fans, rather than “bots” used by predatory resellers, gain first opportunity to purchase tickets to performances.

What’s critical is that any Congressional reform must protect artists’ ability to choose how tickets to their own performances are sold, which in turn helps guarantee that their fans get to actually see their favorite artists perform.  The BOSS Act fails in that regard, whereas market forces and the BOTS Act offer improvement.