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03/19/2010 - 4:03pm EST
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Missouri considers new ban on the reselling of tickets
Tue, Apr 22nd 2008 12:04 pm EST
By Jean Henegan
Less than a year ago, Missouri legalized ticket resale, but the legislation was passed prior to the Hannah Montana crisis. So, in light of the public outcry surrounding the inability for parents and teens to get tickets to the hottest concert in the country, Missouri state legislator Roy Salva is looking to pass new legislation that would once again make it illegal to scalp tickets within the Show Me State.
Rather than focusing on the technology that allegedly allowed scalpers access to large numbers of tickets, as several other states have, Salva places the blame for the ticketing crisis squarely on the backs of brokers, who he believes snap up inordinate numbers of tickets, drive up the prices and gauge consumers.
A hearing for the bill was scheduled to be heard today, April 22, with Salve urging those who were affected by the Hannah Montana debacle to attend and present their personal stories. Currently, the only restriction on Missouri ticket resale is that when reselling tickets outside of a venue, the seller must have a state-issued license.
In a similar case, Connecticut, which also legalized ticket resale last year, is seeking to place restrictions on the resale of tickets in an attempt to prevent venues from withholding blocks of tickets from consumers. In addition to the use of online technologies, the withholding of tickets also contributed to the ticketing controversy surrounding Hannah Montana concerts, and led to organizers releasing thousands of tickets to head off some of the public relations nightmare. So far, Salva’s bill does not address this issue.
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Comments represent the opinions of users and do not necessarily reflect the views of TicketNews.Very typical. If they actually think that passing this piece of legislation to outlaw reselling will stop the scalpers, they are delusional. As I've mentioned time and time again before, the price gouging isn't anything new as it has occurred over and over again through myriads of other popular concerts (i.e. Madonna, Garth Brooks, etc.), yet we never heard any sort of "crisis" or "controversy" over those.
What's the variable that crossed the line? Hannah Montana is for children and it seems "wrong" to screw them over (for a lack of a better way to put it). I'm sorry, but simple business does not draw a clear distinction whether a concert is for children or adults. If you in fact DO, then how about drawing more lines for other groups that shouldn't be screwed over? The possibilities are endless on making exceptions.
My point? This piece of legislation doesn't solve anything.
Lastly, when tickets are resold they apply to the simple rules of free market - supply and demand. Sure tickets sky-rocket at the incipience, but if no one buys them at that price, then ticket prices have to drop. Don't tell me brokers will do just fine if they don't sell a single ticket they purchased in bulk...correct me if I'm wrong?