Resale platform StubHub has slammed Live Nation Entertainment’s calls for a FAIR Ticketing Act, arguing that it would strengthen its “control over the industry and consumers”.
Last week, Live Nation revealed strong financial results for 2022 and its support for a new ticketing act, which calls for artists to be able to decide on resale rules; for it to be illegal to sell speculative tickets; to expand the ‘BOTS Act’; increase enforcement to crack down on resale sites that make it easy for ticket scalpers to thrive and for all-in pricing to be mandatory US-wide.
A StubHub rep told Variety: “In the wake of bipartisan calls to investigate anti-competitive and anti-consumer practices by [Live Nation Entertainment], LNE’s solution is to point fingers and call for policies that strengthen their own control over the industry and consumers. StubHub continues to join consumer advocates in calling for comprehensive policy solutions, like the BOSS ACT, that empower fans, increase transparency across the entire marketplace, and ensure competition.”
The BOSS Act – or the ‘Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing Act’ as it is officially known – was designed to crackdown on illegal activity in the secondary ticket market, tackling bots, price-gougers and more. It was first introduced in 2009.
Last week, US Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee, Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumers Rights, called on the Department of Justice (DOJ) to continue examining Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s ‘anticompetitive conduct’.
The calls followed January’s hearing on competition in the ticketing sector in the US, which was held after the situation surrounding Ticketmaster and the Taylor Swift Eras Tour on-sales.