Maryland bill would slash concert ticket prices, crack down on scalpers
Have you ever wanted to go to a concert, but it just costs way too much money?
Well, Maryland lawmakers feel for those people dealing with the high prices and are now aiming to make tickets more affordable.
It all starts with cracking down on people who buy a ton of tickets and then resell them for outrageous prices.
When that happens, the money doesn’t go to the artist or the venue, and the consumer basically gets scammed.
Maryland House Bill 701 aims to stop ticket scalpers who use predatory practices – buying tickets for concerts, then raising the price ridiculously high for a profit.
"Even worse than that, we’re getting used to paying these exorbitant prices. It’s funny, now if you get a ticket for face value, that’s apparently a big deal," said Delegate C.T. Wilson. "That shouldn’t be a big deal. We’ve been tricked into accepting this."
Delegate Wilson, (D-Charles County) introduced this legislation to fix the problem.
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Maryland lawmakers take aim at ticket scalpers
Whether it’s Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen, or Usher – there’s no shortage of fan complaints about secondary market ticket prices.
It would require resellers to charge no more than the face value of the ticket (plus processing fees), ban resellers from listing tickets they don’t actually have, which is also known as speculative ticket sales, and cap third-party website fees to 10%.
"Everyone, no matter how much money they make, should be able to go see their favorite artist. If their artist is selling these tickets at an affordable rate, then they shouldn’t be bought up the first two minutes of sale, and they shouldn’t have to go through a third-party seller because that person bought all of these tickets, and they’re probably not interested in seeing the show," Delegate Wilson explained. "We want to make sure that people that show up at these events are the people who want to go, and they shouldn’t be extorted into paying more."
Delegate Wilson says he is amending the bill to exclude sporting events, so the focus would only be on concerts. That’s because sports team season ticket holders were concerned about not being able to resell tickets for games they don’t plan to attend.
"The regular Joe that has season tickets, I don’t want to punish him," Wilson said. "I understand he may want to sell a few of his tickets off and make back some of the money he sold – and although it’s not a business nor should it be – that’s not our target audience."
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FOX 5 spoke with people who say they understand resellers want to make money, but they don’t think it’s fair for them to take advantage of others’ wallets.
One gentleman named Eric said, "I’m all for the side hustle, but it keeps the real fans from getting there, I guess. Real expensive tickets for Taylor Swift and whoever else."
The Maryland General Assembly wraps up on Monday, April 8th. FOX 5 will stay ahead and let you know if this bill makes it to Governor Wes Moore’s desk.