A summer whose entertainment headlines were dominated by Taylor Swift and her blowout concert tour just came to an end.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, some of that discussion served to introduce terribly ill-advised proposals that would only make the industry and American consumers\u2019 enjoyment of it far worse.<\/p>\n
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.\u00a0 As just one illustration, resale ticket prices at StubHub alone have increased<\/a> over 100% since as recently as 2019, even while the face value of the tickets being resold have increased only 10%.\u00a0 No wonder consumers desire reform.<\/p>\n Currently, a complex patchwork of state laws govern the industry, which logically invites Congress to streamline consumer protections while still protecting artists\u2019 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.\u00a0 Such federal-level reform should include limitations on price-gougers who seek to resell tickets above their face value.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, some Congressional proposals would make today\u2019s problems infinitely worse.<\/p>\n As an especially egregious example, the \u201cBOSS Act\u201d<\/a> would impose a Biden Administration-style, heavy-handed, big-government regime that would simply empower federal bureaucrats.\u00a0 Americans struggling under deepening economic and governmental dysfunction due to Biden Administration policies hardly need instruction on how that\u2019s an unsettling idea.<\/p>\n 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\u2019 ability to keep ticket prices affordable for their actual fans over wealthy corporate purchasers.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the BOSS Act would do nothing to stop websites from duping fans into believing that they\u2019re officially affiliated with the concert venue or sports teams, nor would it prevent shady sellers from offering tickets they don\u2019t even possess yet.<\/p>\n If nothing else, the FTC\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, the free market has already been coming up with solutions to the longstanding concerns over the ticket purchase experience.\u00a0 For instance, entertainment promotion and ticket company Live Nation in recent months unveiled<\/a> an \u201call-in pricing\u201d idea that took effect this month.\u00a0 Under that voluntary reform, all-in pricing allows fans to see up-front the full price of tickets, including fees.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n