MTP readers will know that there was a battle royale over ticketing being waged in state legislatures from Maryland to Colorado to California to Hawaii. The battle is fought by the same old suspects–tech corporations making an attempt to extract worth as rent-seeking middlemen between artists and their followers. These corporations are typically known as resellers or “secondary ticketing platforms”. They’re corporations like StubHub, Seatgeek, and others. On the opposite facet are ticket sellers, typically known as “preliminary ticket sellers” and that features each artists who promote tickets on to followers (corresponding to by means of fan membership gross sales) and their ticketing brokers like Ticketmaster and Dwell Nation (which additionally provide the Fan-To-Fan Market for resale), AXS and typically the venues themselves.
In the event you had been an artist, the way in which you’ll handle secondary resellers can be to train your property rights over your individual tickets and place resale restrictions in your tickets. You can cap the ticket resale worth to keep away from the tickets changing into commoditized which I’d say is occurring each minute of daily on the secondary platforms like StubHub.
I point out StubHub lots for one major motive–StubHub is presently floating an preliminary public providing of its shares and I feel there’s inadequate info on the market to teach even refined or “accredited” buyers.
If caps had been imposed as a matter of legislation–as Child Rock advised within the Oval Workplace whereas President Trump was signing his Government Order on ticket scalping–that might be an existential occasion for ticket resellers and, if I had been betting, would definitely create headwinds if not outright tank the StubHub IPO. Legislated caps possible would have little to no impact on an organization that was a major ticket vendor as a result of they promote on the face worth of the ticket set by the artist. (I discuss solely about artists and reside music live shows however the identical arguments might apply to Broadway, sports activities or another reside occasion, notably in-demand occasion tickets).
In the event you had been a secondary platform like StubHub, the way in which you’ll keep away from that existential occasion can be to undermine major ticketing corporations (together with conducting lawfare towards them, possible within the background) and work to go laws that might prohibit caps or actually any restrictions on resellers to the extent attainable. A technique to try this can be to remove management over worth from the artist, particularly underneath the guise of “client safety” (this could sound acquainted to Pirate Bay followers and even Google followers). It’s not that the resellers need to screw the artists who create the worth the resellers try to extract, oh no no no. The resellers simply need to defend the buyer, they need “fan equity.”
For instance, our buddy Stuart Dredge at MusicAlly has written concerning the Fan Equity Coalition that he suspects of being a “case of astroturfing” (that is the operation that was run by President Trump’s FTC Commissioner-Choose Mark Meador within the current previous earlier than he was nominated to run the FTC). In fact, the EO known as on the FTC to implement the BOTS Act–you might agree with me that it’s laborious to think about an organization like StubHub surviving with out bots. So there’s that.
However the different factor you’ll do is you’ll attempt to change the legislation. It’s unlikely that resellers would get very far in Congress with their legislative concepts, notably not after the Trump EO. So the resellers appear to have turned to the state legislatures, which brings us again to at this time’s matter. And a pure ally in that operation can be a corporation that might speed up the method corresponding to our uncle ALEC.
The American Legislative Change Council (or ALEC) is a widely known lobbying group that Wikipedia describes as “a nonprofit group of conservative state legislators and personal sector representatives who draft and share mannequin laws for distribution amongst state governments in america”.
I’d paraphrase that description in phrases of 1 syllable to say the ALEC is a hotbed of shillery that could be a switch level for quite a lot of swamp creatures to dream up “mannequin” laws that they may by no means get by means of the Congress after which impose these guidelines on the remainder of us by means of state legal guidelines. Once they lubricate their manner by means of sufficient state legislatures, they then can attempt to bootstrap that penetration right into a federal legislation. Why? As a result of we are able to’t have a patchwork quilt of guidelines, don’t you understand, laboratories of democracy being what they’re thanks Justice Brandeis. ALEC is a conservative group, however they don’t have a lock on the method—that’s primarily what the nutjobs within the Library Futures enterprise had been making an attempt to do with their state marketing campaign for digital lending libraries throughout COVIDish instances.
Are you able to inform I don’t approve?
Why is that this related to ticketing? By some means—three guesses how—ALEC got here up with mannequin ticketing laws final yr. That laws is a reseller’s moist dream and was posted at this hyperlink on ALEC’s web site till they obtained busted. Then they instantly took it down. You’ll be able to see from the now-dead hyperlink that it was known as the “Dwell Occasion Ticketing Shopper Safety Reform Act” as a result of nothing says shillery like getting “client” “safety” and “reform” in the identical sentence to masks your true intentions. As a result of, you understand, it’s all concerning the followers, proper?
Ah, however the “Dwell Occasion Ticketing Shopper Safety Reform Act” didn’t go away, oh no. It lives and, I’m ashamed to say, it lives within the Texas legislature. However luckily for us, it additionally lives within the Wayback Machine: https://internet.archive.org/internet/20241202183222/https://alec.org/model-policy/live-event-ticketing-consumer-protection-reform-act/
So having recovered a replica, now we are able to examine it to any ticketing invoice corresponding to Texas Senator Johnson’s SB 1820. Senator Johnson’s invoice appears to crop up out of nowhere making an attempt to go itself off as one thing it’s not, like client safety and particularly client safety reform. Or “fan equity”. The timing of it is a little curious–ALEC was all up on this client safety reform final December-ish; this session of the Texas Legislature began in January, with this invoice being launched in February. What that claims to me is that SB 1820 was most likely drafted someplace between December and February for causes that may grow to be apparent in a minute.
That’s as a result of SB 1820 successfully is the ALEC laws with a couple of added artist suppositories. How do I do know this? Properly, check out this A/B simply from the definitions alone and also you inform me how they’re totally different:
| Outlined Phrases | Johnson SB 1820 | ALEC Lobbyists Mannequin Invoice |
| Base Ticket Worth | “Base ticket worth” means the acquisition worth of aticket for an occasion. The time period doesn’t embrace an occasion ticket price or any taxes. | BASE EVENT TICKET PRICE. The time period “base occasion ticketprice” means, with respect toan occasion ticket, the worth ofthe occasion ticket excludingevent ticket charges or taxes |
| Occasion | “Occasion” means a live performance, theatrical efficiency,sporting occasion, exhibition, present, or related scheduled exercise that:(A) is open to the general public;(B) is held in a public or non-public venue; and(C) requires cost of an admission price toattend the exercise. | EVENT.-The time period “occasion” meansany reside live performance, theatricalperformance, sporting occasion,present, or equally scheduled liveactivity, taking place a seating orattendance capability exceeding200 individuals that is(A) open to the basic public;and(B) promoted, marketed, ormarketed in interstatecommerce, or for which eventtickets are typically offered ordistributed in interstatecommerce. |
| Occasion Ticket Price | “Occasion ticket price” means a price or cost added tothe base ticket worth to acquire an occasion ticket from both a major ticket vendor or secondary market ticket vendor. The time period:(A) consists of:(i) a service price or cost;(ii) an order processing price;(iii) a supply price; and(iv) a facility cost price; and(B) doesn’t embrace:(i) a tax;(ii) an affordable postage or provider chargeincurred to ship nonelectronic tickets primarily based on the situation ordelivery technique chosen by the purchaser; or(iii) a cost or price for an non-obligatory services or products related to the occasion. | EVENT TICKET FEE.-Theterm “occasion ticket price” means acharge that should be paid inaddition to the base occasion ticketprice in order to receive an occasion ticket from a ticket issuer or secondary market ticket issuer, together with service charges, cost and order processing charges, supply charges, facility cost charges, and costs, and does notinclude any taxes or any chargeor price for an non-obligatory product orservice related with the eventthat could be chosen by apurchaser of an occasion ticket. |
| Complete Occasion Ticket Worth | “Complete ticket worth,” with respect to a ticket for an occasion, means the entire price of the ticket. The time period consists of the bottom ticket worth and an occasion ticket price. | TOTAL EVENT TICKET PRICE.The time period “whole occasion ticketprice” means, with respect to anevent ticket, the whole price of theevent ticket, together with the eventticket worth and any occasion ticketfees, excluding any taxes. |
| Non-compulsory Product or Service | “Non-compulsory services or products” means a product orservice that an individual isn’t required to buy to make use of or take possession of an occasion ticket. | OPTIONAL PRODUCT ORSERVICE.-The time period “optionalproduct or service” means aproduct or service that anindividual does not want topurchase, to make use of or takepossession of an occasion ticket |
| Venue/Place of Leisure | “Venue” means a stadium, area, theater, concerthall, or different place used for occasions. | i PLACE OFENTERTAINMENT ORVENUE.-The time period “place ofentertainment” or “venue”means a public or privateentertainment facility, such an area, theater or different placewhere reside performances,live shows, displays, athleticgames, or contests are held, forwhich an entry price is charged. |
| Major Sale Major Ticket Vendor | “Major sale” means the preliminary sale of a ticketfor an occasion. “Major ticket vendor” means any of the followingpersons which can be engaged within the major sale of tickets for an occasion:(A) an proprietor or operator of a venue;(B) a supervisor or supplier of an occasion;(C) a supplier of ticketing providers; or(D) an agent of an individual described by Paragraph(A), (B), or (C). | PRIMARY SALE.-The time period”major sale” means, withregards to a ticket, the initialsale of a ticket.PRIMARY TICKET SELLER.- The time period “major ticket vendor”means an proprietor or operator ofa venue or a sports activities group, amanager or supplier of an occasion, or a supplier of ticketing providers (or an agentof such proprietor, operator,supervisor, or supplier) thatengages in the major sale oftickets for an occasion. |
| Resale | “Resale” or “reselling” means the sale of anevent ticket by a major ticket vendor occurring any time after theprimary sale of the ticket.. | RESALE; SECONDARY SALE. Theterms a ”resale” and”secondary sale” imply anysale of an occasion ticket thatoccurs after the major saleof an occasion ticket by a ticketissuer |
| SECONDARY MARKET TICKET EXCHANGE | “Secondary market ticket change” or “change”means an individual that operates a platform or change foradvertising, itemizing, or promoting resale tickets on the particular person’s personal behalf or on behalf of a vendor or secondary market ticket vendor. The time period features a major ticket vendor providing tickets forresale. | SECONDARY MARKET TICKET EXCHANGE: The time period “secondary market ticket change” means any individual that operates a platform or change for promoting, itemizing, or promoting resale tickets, on behalf of itself, distributors, or a secondary market ticket issuer. |
I’ll hold wanting by means of the Johnson/ALEC laws, however this isn’t a promising begin. I think I do know what I’ll discover down within the guts of the invoice and it received’t be good for artists or non-public property rights, and particularly not for followers.
Dwell exhibits aren’t fungible or interchangeable. The ticket begins out because the artist’s property and the artist decides the worth primarily based on the financial relationship the artist desires with their fan. As David Lowery has stated many instances, the financial relationship between artists and followers is analogous to a subscription, it’s not a one-time transaction from which the artist desires to extract the online current worth of all attainable transactions with the fan. The resellers seem to have the alternative relationship with the fan as a result of it appears to me that of their enterprise mannequin, followers are fungible. Each followers and tickets are commodities and their enterprise in that mannequin…and subsequently StubHub’s IPO…is constructed on a dehumanizing digitization and commoditization of that delicate relationship between artist and fan.
