The Louisiana House of Representatives has recently taken a stance that goes against the efforts of popular and conservative Sen. John Kennedy to protect consumers. The House has chosen to side with ticket scalpers over musicians, teams, and fans who want to keep ticket prices down, following the Taylor Swift concert ticket scandal last year.
The issue is coming to a head as Beyonce kicks off her world tour, with an average ticket price of $700. Louisiana House Bill 341 would ban original ticket sellers like Ticketmaster from using a “non-transferable” ticket system unless they also offer ticket buyers the ability to transfer their tickets at the time of sale.
This means an artist would be able to ban scalpers from inflating ticket prices while allowing ticket transfers between fans. This approach stands in direct contrast to the one advocated for by Kennedy in a Senate hearing earlier this year.
He correctly noted that banning scalping of tickets would prevent exorbitantly high ticket prices, as they are not the prices being charged by the original sellers but rather by scalpers on third-party websites.
This whole experience trying to get Taylor Swift tickets has been awful. I 100% blame @Ticketmaster. I’m defeated. pic.twitter.com/eErjbxjGtM
— Haley NASH N2 💜💜 (@haaaleyjo_) May 4, 2023
Sen. Amy Klobuchar has teamed up with Sen. Dick Blumenthal to make ticketing part of an antitrust agenda to push a bill that would clamp down on long-term contracts that control exclusive ticketing rights of US venues and festivals. However, this would raise costs for consumers and fail to address the core problem that Kennedy identified months ago.
Sen. Ted Cruz has proposed a competing bill that would ban hidden ticket fees. While this is a better approach, it still fails to address the cost for consumers. Louisiana’s proposed law would ban original ticket sellers from using a non-transferable ticket system — putting the state in line with the likes of Illinois and New York.
However, it is not clear why a family-friendly and conservative state would want to adopt the failing policies of progressive states.
