Blackburn is a strong proponent of reform in the live entertainment marketplace
Last week, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order targeting high ticket prices in the live entertainment industry. The order specifically addresses the resale market and instructs the Federal Trade Commission to work with the Department of Justice to enforce fair competition in the space.
The Music Universe’s Matt Bailey spoke with US Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) in Washington, DC, who’s a strong proponent of reform in the live entertainment marketplace.
“The BOTS Act, we were able to get passed while I was in the House,” Blackburn says. “It was a great piece of legislation that had bipartisan support and became a law. The FTC has been very slow to move forward with any type of enforcement or prosecutions. In the entire four and a half years, they took one action under the BOTS Act. So I greatly appreciate getting the Executive Order yesterday because we have so many entertainers coming out of Nashville and they’re doing concerts and tours and their fans are having to pay exorbitant prices and it doesn’t go to the musicians or their teams. It is going to the resellers and the scalpers.”
She also discussed the recently introduced Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for Event Ticketing Act or better known as the MAIN Events Ticketing Act.
“It is important for Congress to weigh in on all aspects of the cost of living,” Blackburn adds. “And what we have seen with events is that the cost is becoming cost prohibitive for families. When you see tickets that are advertised and maybe it is a $75 ticket, then nothing is available when the tickets go on sale because they have been scooped. And then they go to one of the resellers sites to buy the ticket and the ticket is going to be five times the price. So then they say they can’t afford it. We also have the occurrence of people that buy tickets from resellers and then they find out it is not a valid ticket. So that is why filing the MAIN Event Act that would help with the enforcement of the BOTS Act and that is so that people who are fans of different sports teams or entertainers or people that love to go to the theater and live shows have the opportunity to actually experience that at the price that is advertised and not a price that is two to five times that price.”
She continues, “It is important not only for action under the executive order that DOJ can take, but it is important to codify the pathway for the FTC or DOJ to go forward. And that is why we want the enforcement on the BOTS Act and also passage of the MAIN Event Act.”
Both President Trump’s executive order and the MAIN Event Ticketing Act, which was introduced in this Congress, aim to strengthen the enforcement of the BOTS Act — The Better Online Ticket Sales Act passed in 2016. It was put in place to combat the predatory practice of resellers using software to buy up face value tickets and then to price gouge fans on the secondary market.
Blackburn previously spoke with us about the Ticketmaster-Live Nation antitrust suit that the US Justice Department and 39 states allege of running a monopoly on the live entertainment industry. Last year, Blackburn ripped into Ticketmaster-Live Nation President Joe Berchtold for the company’s failure to prevent bots from gobbling up tickets, with secondary market resellers boldly offering tickets before on-sales.
