The Council of the District of Columbia has unanimously passed the RESALE Act which caps the resale price of live entertainment tickets at 10% above their original face value.
The Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (RESALE) Amendment Act targets tickets sold on third-party sites such as SeatGeek, StubHub and Vivid Seats.
It also bans speculative ticket sales, making it illegal to advertise or sell tickets that a reseller does not actually possess.
“Today, the DC Council stood with DC’s most beloved and iconic music venues, with our storied theatres, and with every music and live theatre fan who’s tired of getting ripped off and priced out,” said Councilmember Charles Allen, author of the RESALE Act.
“Ticket resellers have used technology and unrestrained profits to turn our live entertainment scene into the wild west – just last week it was revealed StubHub has been running a major ticket scalping operation while they’ve argued they’re just a platform for fans to sell extra tickets.
“People are sick of big tech wringing more and more money out of them. DC is a leader here and I expect many other jurisdictions to step in once they see we can save our residents money and keep more dollars in our local economy instead of propping up big tech.”
Barring a veto from D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser, the Act would take effect next year and has already been funded in the budget.
The pro-consumer bill has been well received by many, including Live Nation which owns Ticketmaster.
“We applaud the D.C. City Council for protecting fans and artists by banning speculative ticketing, reaffirming all in pricing, and capping concert ticket resale prices,” said the company’s president of concerts in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia.
“No one should be able to scam fans by listing tickets they don’t have or by pretending to be legitimate ticket sellers.”
However, not everyone welcomed the RESALE Act.
The Ticket Policy Forum, a trade group representing resale platforms including StubHub and SeatGeek, has argued that a resale price cap will push ticket sales onto unregulated channels and increase fraud.
The group contends that the primary market controlled by Ticketmaster is the real cause of high prices.