By JoAnne Allen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday unveiled a proposal aimed at giving fans a better chance to buy hot concert tickets at face value before ticket resellers scoop them up and raise the prices.
The proposed legislation would set a two-day waiting period from when tickets go on sale through normal channels before a ticket reseller can buy the tickets to put on the secondary market, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement.
"The bottom line is we need to create a fair system where fans get first crack at good seats at a reasonable price," Schumer said.
The measure would also require ticket reseller to register with the Federal Trade Commission to prevent fraudulent or anonymous sales.
Schumer unveiled the measure the day before concert tickets go on sale for U2 performances in New York.
Schumer said he had discussed the proposed legislation with Ticketmaster, which is seeking to merge with the world’s largest concert promoting company Live Nation.
Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff said he supports the proposal.
"Ticketmaster recognizes that the ticket resale industry needs far-reaching changes to better protect consumers and ensure fair access to tickets," Azoff said.
Ticketmaster was besieged by complaints earlier this year when fans of Bruce Springsteen who signed on to Ticketmaster to buy concert tickets were told they had sold out within minutes. They were instead directed to the reseller TicketsNow which had considerably more expensive tickets.
Ticketmaster acknowledged last week that it has been subpoenaed or received other requests for information from the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission and the New Jersey Attorney General’s office.
The law enforcement agencies were interested in Ticketmaster’s relationship with its reseller TicketsNow, in particular over controversial sales of tickets to Springsteen shows in New Jersey on May 21 and 23, according to a company email displayed on the industry blog TicketNews.com.
Ticketmaster has said the problem was caused by a computer glitch.
(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Two days is nice, but I really want a week of exclusive selling at the Venue. Go Sen. Charles Schumer.
I hope the NE delegation will sign on to this bill(this is me asking a favor of my congressional delegation)!
Vernon Davis
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