WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was signing an govt order Monday that he says will assist curb ticket scalping and produce “commonsense” modifications to the way in which reside leisure occasions are priced.
Designed to cease “price-gouging by middlemen,” the order directs Lawyer Common Pam Bondi and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to make sure that scalpers providing tickets at increased costs than their face worth adjust to all Inside Income Service guidelines, in accordance with a reality sheet launched by the White Home.
It additionally orders the Federal Commerce Fee to make sure “price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process” and to “take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market,” which the Trump administration argues can restore sensibility and order to the ticket market.
“America’s live concert and entertainment industry has a total nationwide economic impact of $132.6 billion and supports 913,000 jobs,” the actual fact sheet stated. “But it has become blighted by unscrupulous middle-men who impose egregious fees on fans with no benefit to artists.”
The push marks a uncommon occasion of coverage crossover with the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, which used the FTC to focus on “ junk charges,” or levies tacked on on the finish of the acquisition course of that may masks the complete worth of issues like live performance tickets, lodge rooms and utility payments.
Below Biden, the Justice Division additionally sued Ticketmaster and its guardian firm, Dwell Nation Leisure, final yr. It accused them of operating an unlawful monopoly over reside occasions and requested a courtroom to interrupt up the system that squelches competitors and drives up costs for followers.
These corporations have a historical past of clashing with main artists, together with Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift. whose summer season 2022 stadium tour was stricken by issue getting tickets. Nation music star Zach Bryan even launched a 2022 album titled “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster.” A representative for Bryan said he had “nothing to add” when requested to touch upon Monday’s govt motion.
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The Biden administration used such initiatives as a technique to shield shoppers from rising costs that have been already inflated. Trump, in the meantime, campaigned on combating excessive ticket costs, calling them “very unfortunate.”
“Ticket scalpers use bots and other unfair means to acquire large quantities of face-value tickets, then re-sell them at an enormous markup on the secondary market, price-gouging consumers and depriving fans of the opportunity to see their favorite artists without incurring extraordinary expenses,” the White Home face sheet stated, including, “By some reports, fans have paid as much as 70 times the face value of a ticket price to obtain a ticket.”
It additionally famous that increased costs do not imply extra earnings for artists however as a substitute go “solely to the scalper and the ticketing agency.”
Trump’s order additionally directs federal officers and the FTC to ship a report in six months “summarizing actions taken to address the issue of unfair practices in the live concert and entertainment industry and recommend additional regulations or legislation needed to protect consumers in this industry.”
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Related Press author Maria Sherman contributed to this report from New York.
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