Starting in October, Connecticut eventgoers will be able to see the full price of any ticket before their purchase — including the hidden fees.
The new law, set to go into effect October 1, applies to tickets on the primary and secondary market. Officials said the law is aimed at providing transparency to ticket buyers, as sites like Ticketmaster get away with tacking-on additional fees to tickets, increasing the initial price significantly. These fees will often be disguised as “convenience” or “service” fees.
All ticket sellers will be required to provide the total fee up-front in a “clear and conspicuous manner,” and must be displayed on the ticket listing before the buyer clicks on the ticket. Sellers are also prohibited from posting “false or misleading” ticket disclosures, as well as disclosures “presented more prominently than the total ticket price, or in a font size as large or larger than the font size of the total ticket price,” per the law.
Connecticut lawmakers like Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) have been outspoken about the lack of transparency in the ticketing industry. Sen. Blumenthal called Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s merger a “monopoly” and has urged the Department of Justice to investigate the industry as a whole.
Earlier this year, Sen. Blumenthal joined Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) to introduce a bill aimed at improving competition in the live entertainment ticketing market. The Unlock Ticketing Markets Act would place limits on exclusive venue ticketing contracts, as Live Nation currently holds an estimated 70-80% market share.
New federal legislation was also introduced by Sen. Blumenthal and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to eliminate excessive hidden “junk” fees across multiple industries.
