The Minnesota House committee is advancing a bill that would take a tougher stance on ticketing fees and ticket resellers.
The bill, known as House File 1989, which was named as a nod to singer-songwriter Taylor Swift's album, seeks to boost consumer protections. The measure requires cost transparency, which includes showing the total price, including all fees, upfront, not just a few minutes before someone makes a purchase.
Minnesota Advances Bill After "Eras Tour" Controversy
The author of the bill is Rep. Kelly Moller, who said that she decided to introduce the measure after the Ticketmaster meltdown in relation to Swift's "Eras Tour" tickets. At the time, millions of fans flocked to the website in order to buy tickets for the concern, which caused it to freeze or crash.
The incident came as the site received 3.5 billion requests in a single day, which forced the company to suspend sales and made it more difficult for fans to purchase face-value tickets. The event also prompted a Senate Judiciary hearing in January 2023, according to CBS News.
Many lawmakers, including Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, called for a federal investigation of the ticket seller. The measure seeks to ban what officials called "speculative ticketing" or resellers posting tickets for sale even though they are not yet available. Additionally, it prohibits resellers from advertising more than one copy of a ticket.
In a statement, the president of the Hennepin Theatre Trust, Todd Duesing, said that the implementation of the new bill's measures seeks to level the playing field. It would also empower consumers to make informed choices in an effort to curb predatory pricing practices and establish mechanisms for recourse in cases of fraud or misrepresentation.
Moller's bill began after she was also among the people who tried to pounce on the Eras Tour tickets in November 2022. However, she did not get an access code and was subsequently frozen out of the hours-long wait in a virtual line.
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Addressing Ticketing Fees, Reseller Issues
Eventually, she heard several stories of lucky Swifties who waited, clicked to purchase, and then learned at checkout that the prices of the tickets were much higher than what was advised prior, which was mainly due to seller fees, said the Star Tribune.
The representative said that it turned into a high-pressure situation of, "I have two minutes or I'm going to lose these tickets." If a user rejects the transaction, they will be forced to start over from the beginning and most likely lose out on the chance to buy a ticket.
Moller is sponsoring the bill alongside Sen. Matt Klein, whose version will be heard on Thursday in the Senate's Commerce and Consumer Protection Committee. The owner of the Twin Cities-based Ticket King reseller, Michael Nowakowski, said that it was ludicrous that any product could be sold in such a manner.
On Monday, the House Commerce and Finance Committee voted to refer the bill to the General Register, where the Minnesota House of Representatives will be able to take it up for a vote. One of the main issues that consumers faced during the incident was paying up to 70 times the face value of the tickets, according to MPR News.
