Last month we reported on US music industry coalition Fix The Tix’s criticism of the latest piece of legislation proposing reforms of the ticketing market.
The group, whose founder members range from Universal Music Group and the RIAA to venues body NIVA and the Future of Music Coalition, took the proposed BOSS and SWIFT ACT to task with claims that it would “increase ticket prices, enshrine deceptive practices like speculative tickets, and cause an even worse ticket-buying experience for true fans”.
Now Fix The Tix has followed up that criticism with its own set of proposals for ticketing reform, which it would like to see the US Congress enact instead.
Its suggestions include “restricting predatory reseller markups” for tickets on the secondary market; banning resellers from selling tickets that they don’t actually own yet; and bar them from “deceptive websites and unauthorized use of artist and venue likenesses” to avoid misleading fans.
Transparent pricing; establishing a right for fans to sell tickets at face-value or below if they can’t go to a show; and updating the existing BOTS Act to crack down further on ticketing bots are also on the menu, with Fix The Tix also keen to see these reforms applied across the US.
As we noted in our coverage of the BOSS and SWIFT ACT, the current debate about ticketing in the US is increasingly polarised, with heavy lobbying from the various entities, and multiple bills vying to become law.
Fix The Tix’s plan carries plenty of music-industry weight behind it, but the prospect of a single piece of legislation that the live sector can rally around – or even just accept as a compromise – still seems very far away.
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