CONGRESS CHATS UP TICKET SCALPING BILL
When senators and congressmen couldn’t get tickets to see Hamilton on Broadway, they took action like the politicos who wondered why Miley Cyrus’ tour would sell out so quickly nine years ago. This week, D.C. pols are all over the Better Online Ticket Sales Act.
The House approved a version of the Better Online Ticket Sales Act, a bill that calls for the criminalization for the use of automated ticket-buying software—bots—for entertainment and sporting events. On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee held a hearing that included testimony from the lead producer of Hamilton, Jeffrey Seller, Stubhub lawyer Ted Cohen, Ticketfly’s general counsel Jeremy Lige and Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby.
A statement from Ticketmaster reads, "Ticketmaster worked closely with legislators to develop the BOTS Act and believes the bill is a critical step in regulating the unauthorized use of Bots and putting more tickets into the hands of fans."
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson griped about Hamilton: “The reason I didn’t go: I did not want to pay $800 a ticket. … At the time that I tried, all the tickets had been bought up. This is a rigged market benefiting some greedy speculators.”
No one asked how Trump’s gofer Chris Christie continues to get prime seats for every Bruce Springsteen concert in New Jersey.
The New York Times did a study that found that scalpers made more than $15.5m reselling tickets when Lin-Manuel Miranda was in the cast. That led to Hamilton’s best seats having a face value of $849.
Seller told the New York Times that automated ticket-buying programs and brokers purchased 73% of a block of tickets the show put on sale in February. In April, they canceled about $5m that were purchased improperly, after which Ticketmaster installed stronger anti-bot software. Seller believes bot purchases are down to about 26% of all tickets sold.
Senators suggested the BOTS bill is a small step toward controlling the secondary ticketing market. The question, though, is whether Congress will take steps to institute controls or regulations for the ticketing industry as a whole. Stay tuned.
