On Thursday, the Senate introduced the bipartisan Fans First Act co-sponsored by U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Peter Welch (D-VT), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Ben Luján (D-NM).
On the same day, the Fix The Tix coalition (of which APAP is a member) released the following statement: “Predatory resellers have made the ticket-buying experience a nightmare for fans. Fake tickets, deceptive marketing practices and websites, and shady pricing harm live entertainment's integrity and siphon money away from artists, venues, festivals, fans, and communities.
“The Fans First Act will chip away at the fan entrapment that has become an everyday part of trying to go to our favorite shows. The entire music industry stands behind Senators Cornyn, Klobuchar, Blackburn, Welch, Wicker, and Luján as they work to pass this bill that will:
ban the sale of speculative, or fake, tickets;
make it illegal for the deceptive marketing, websites, and URLs that trick consumers into paying more for tickets that may never get them into a show;
require every ticket seller to show the full itemized cost of the ticket, including any mandatory fees, from the moment the transaction begins;
and
provide for clear penalties and state and federal enforcement.
“The introduction of the bipartisan Fans First Act reflects the foundation for ticketing reform in the House’s bipartisan TICKET Act (H.R. 3950) sponsored by Reps. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), and Kelly Armstrong (R-ND), which passed out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday.
"Fans, artists, and our entire industry recognize that the current ticket-buying disarray driven by predatory secondary sellers is an emergency. Passage of comprehensive ticketing reforms is the only solution that will put money back into the pockets of consumers and bridge the divide that ticket resellers have created between fans and artists.”
