TicketNews: Consumer advocate groups cautioned lawmakers in Washington D.C. against moving forward with proposed legislation to regulate ticketing at a hearing this week, indicating that it would backfire by strengthening the very monopoly it claims to constrain. The legislation, they warned, would limit consumer options and competition in the ticketing market, while allowing industry giants like Ticketmaster to tighten their grip.
3 comments:
I personally believe that these consumer advocates are kind've in the wrong. I don't think that the bill is just targeting scalpers but also Live Nation themselves, as the bill aims to also place a price cap on tickets themselves which would also prevent the resale value on all platforms from going above whatever that price cap is. However I do see the potential legality of this law coming into question and it's almost certain that this will be at the for front of future debates on wether or not the government has the ability to place it's self in a role where it can regulate prices. I personally believe that our current government doesn't necessarily believe in consumer interest that much and I find it hard to believe that even if this bill is successful in its purpose. That it will fail because of the lack of support by many people that are currently in power spots.
To be completely honest, I'm a little confused about what the consumer advocates are talking about when they say that this bill wouldn't do what it's supposed to do.Reading the wording of the bill as it's explained in this article, although I admit that I have not looked at the actual wording of the bill in how it was presented in legislation form, I don't see how capping prices would hurt small businesses that aren't scalping. It feels almost like the consumer advocates who are saying that are arguing that scalping is okay if you're not Live Nation. If there are caps on things, I don't necessarily think that'll stop small businesses from being able to do business. Maybe the article means that without Live Nation to raise the prices, the small businesses that are selling tickets at a fair price won't have as much of an audience to sell to. I think I understand that rationale a little more, but considering the amount of a monopoly that Live Nation has, I don't think it's the right choice to do nothing. I do think that maybe some antitrust legislation should also be in the works, but I don't know if saying no to this is going to stop anything bad from happening.
At first glance the bill sounds like it would help reduce the cost of resale tickets but as I read further I started to agree with the consumer group advocates. The proposal does have a lot of good parts but I think that the lapses in the ban would help Ticketmaster and Live Nation in the end over consumers. I think banning speculative ticket listings and enforcing all-in pricing is a good thing for consumers. I think the registration for high volume ticket resale can be problematic. A lot of policies where you need to register have become an illegal quid pro quo or add requirements that harm competition. I think the whole idea is needed but more should be added to cover the loop holes that will harm market competition and fill exclusions like the sports tickets exclusion. Maybe something should be done to divide the monopoly that ticketmaster and live nation have.
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