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Arkansas seeks to stop speculative selling of event tickets
A new proposal quickly winding its way through the Arkansas legislature would eliminate the speculative selling of event tickets, mandating that all tickets, except for sports tickets, cannot be sold until after they were first offered to the general public.
State Senate bill #966, which this week received overwhelming support in the Arkansas Senate, would affect internet ticket sales, but would be limited to non-sporting events held in the state.
Arkansas Sen. Larry Teague sponsored the bill, and he told TicketNews that the impetus for it were fans who had problems resulting from the "Hannah Montana" tour of 2007-08 for which some people allegedly bought spec tickets from some sites and were ripped off.
"This bill was designed to deal with that," Teague said. The bill could be voted on by the state House of Representatives as early as Monday, March 16.
The proposed bill states, "Tickets of admission to a live entertainment event, theatre, musical performance, or place of public entertainment or amusement of any kind shall not be offered for sale by any person over the Internet until the tickets have first been offered for sale to the public via an event authorized outlet or offering."
It continues, "Internet portals or websites shall not allow any person to offer for resale any ticket of admission to a admission to a live entertainment event, theatre, musical performance, or place of public entertainment or amusement of any kind until the tickets have first been offered for sale to the public via an event-authorized outlet or offering."
Teague said he hadn't thought about the possible affect the proposed law might have on fan clubs that offer tickets for sale to members before the general public, or theaters or venues that have season ticket subscriptions for events in their facilities. "They might not be able to continue that under this proposal," he said.
The proposal cuts to the heart of the secondary ticket market and could radically alter how many brokers do business in the state, but Teague maintained that he was not approached by any lobbyists in support of the measure. Last month, Ticketmaster Entertainment settled a complaint with New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram over the handling of Bruce Springsteen tickets, and the company said its TicketsNow subsidiary would stop the practice of listing speculative tickets.
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This thing is Dead On Arrival.
They didn't even have the sense to address how this will effect fan club presales and season ticket holders? And the response when that was pointed out was ~ They might not be able to continue that ~?
Small theaters depend on subscription sales...
Sen. Teague needs to address important matters, like why his state is in the bottom three for teen pregnancy, literacy, and health.
Guy #2 chiming in again to the idiot in the first post who thought Arkansas did matter
You will see this in Tomorrow's Wall Street Journal
By ETHAN SMITH
In the latest move in his battle with Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., New York Sen. Charles Schumer unveiled plans for legislation that would ban the resale of concert and sports tickets until two days after they first go on sale to the public.
The waiting-period legislation is partly a response to complaints from Bruce Springsteen fans who in February tried to buy concert tickets on Ticketmaster's main Web site but were instead redirected to TicketsNow.com, a site owned by Ticketmaster where brokers resell tickets, often for many times face value. Fans were particularly outraged that Ticketmaster's computers steered them to the higher-priced aftermarket even before the concerts were fully sold out.
The bill, which Mr. Schumer plans to introduce Monday, wouldn't outlaw the resale of tickets entirely, but would prohibit situations in which tickets are listed for resale at jacked-up prices on sites like eBay Inc.'s StubHub.com during -- or even before -- the initial sale. After the Springsteen debacle, TicketsNow banned such "prelistings" on its site.
"Buying concert tickets has become like taking a trip back to the Wild West -- anything goes," Mr. Schumer said in a statement Sunday. He accused resellers of "hoarding" tickets and quickly driving up prices. "Any attempt to keep prices down by the sellers and artists is made impossible." He called his proposal an attempt to create "a fair system" to give fans a chance to obtain good seats for their face value.
The action comes against the backdrop of Ticketmaster's proposed acquisition by Live Nation Inc., the world's largest concert promoter. That deal would create a live-music powerhouse and is subject to regulatory review by the Justice Department.
In a sign of possible d[eacute]tente between Mr. Schumer and the ticketing giant, Ticketmaster Chief Executive Irving Azoff endorsed the legislation in a statement Sunday, calling it a "thoughtful proposal."
The announcement represented a marked shift in the tone of the dialogue between Mr. Schumer and Ticketmaster executives, who had traded increasingly pointed barbs in the past two months.
Mr. Schumer sharply criticized Ticketmaster in the wake of the Springsteen episode, and questioned Mr. Azoff during Senate subcommittee hearings on the merger in February.
Last month, Ticketmaster Chairman Barry Diller fired back during a conference call with analysts, accusing Mr. Schumer of engaging in "always-to-be-expected shameless grandstanding."
Write to Ethan Smith at ethan.smith@wsj.com
Guy #2 is right. Other states will copy the law...
However, who cares anyway.
Just don't spec sell before the show has its first presale.
There ya go.. easy.
...I agree with the first/third guy. Who cares, its Arkansas? If broker number two really thinks large states like NY or CA or TX are going to explore legislative changes because Arkansas passed something, then I suggest you stay out of the ticket broker business until you're out of your teenage years. For those of us who know what we're talking about, Arkansas is irrelevant. I think I've maybe sold one concert there in my lifetime, and that was Hannah Montana, ironically. As well, if you think there is any chance they're going to be able to enforce this law with anyone out of state, think again.
As a ticket broker I must say: "who cares, its Arkansas. I forgot that state even existed".
AS another ticket broker I say your short sited and an idiot.
The reason Arkansas matters is because once it passes there, the other states copy the legislation, change a few words around and pass it in there state as well.
Then they go on TV and speak with reporters and tell anyone who will listen how they defeated the big bad ticket brokers.
You are the idiot. You actually think the rest of the country follows Arkansas's lead! LOL!
Pull your head out of your a$$ tard! Things are going EXACTLY the other way. There are strong lobbyist groups in Washington that have recently done away with anti scalping laws in states that matter such as New York, Mass and other worthwhile states. The reason why this passed in Arkansas is because brokers don't care about reselling in that state and the lobbyist therefore did not care.