This week, Ohio became the latest state to take action in response to the national outcry over the Hannah Montana ticket mess.
Acting in response to frustration and complaints from constituents that they are unable to buy tickets to high profile events, such as the Hannah Montana concert, Ohio state Reps. Matt Lundy and Clyde Evans have proposed a bill aimed at preventing brokers from obtaining and hoarding tickets. At the crux of the complaints are the plethora of tickets that are mysteriously bought by brokers at face value only to be resold to consumers who were unable to get tickets to the event at four or five times their original purchase price.
The proposed bill would look into preventing the consumer from losing out on purchasing tickets to in demand concerts and events. In an interview with The Chronical-Telegram, Lundy offered this explanation for the bill saying, “It’s not fair for brokers to hold consumers hostage by grabbing up tickets to sell later at higher prices. Consumers should have the ability to easily find tickets at advertised prices so they can maximize their limited entertainment dollars.”
The bill would address the buying of tickets directly from the concert or event venue, making it illegal for brokers to buy from the venues. It would also require that all brokers register with the state. If brokers do buy tickets directly from the venue and resell them they could be hit with a $1,000 fine. However, unlike a string of recently proposed legislation throughout various states, the bill fails to address what is seen by many as the central problem of the Hannah Montana ticket fiasco- online technology that allows for the buying of mass numbers of tickets.
Under current Ohio state law, there is no statewide uniform policy regarding the resale of tickets. Rather, each municipality is responsible for defining their own terms regarding the matter. Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Columbus each have a legal means for ticket resale; however there are some restrictions placed on it. Should this bill pass through the legislature, it would mark the first statewide restriction placed on ticket resales.
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while i completley understand the frustrations of many people not being able to buy tickets to this show. I myself was a person that stood in line with my two kids and ended up with nothing. I dont think ticket brokers are the problem… because ticketmaster, promoters, fanclub and radio stations put tickets on sale before the public is allowed to buy tickets. and ticketmaster had the show sold out within minutes but the week of the show and the day of the show there was a magical release on tickets. TICKETS that TICKETMASTER and PROMOTORS were holding back. I dont buy from ticket brokers but I dont think that the fingers should only be pointed at ticket brokers the venue holds appx. 20,000 do they honestly believe that ticket brokers are buying 10 of thousand of tickets..thats ridiculous. Sometimes ticket brokers help people out that cant get to a ticket master outlet or dont want to stand in line who would rather pay someone to do that for them.. there is nothing wrong with that. Everything in our day to day lives is marked up for resale. This is just coming from one person who couldnt get tickets and needs to blame someone well I think you should start with Ticketmaster.. who scalps their own tickets and has online auctions for seats in the first 10 rows for most popular shows. How are they different from a ticket broker… and since they are in business with one of the largest tickets brokers in the US ticketsnow.com they are pretty much A TICKET BROKER!!!