WASHINGTON D.C. (CelebrityAccess) — On Tuesday, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), a trade group formed in the early days of the COVID pandemic, announced their support for California’s proposed regulation of the event ticketing industry.
The proposed legislation, California’s Senate Bill (SB) 785, would provide comprehensive news rules for the ticketing industry, both primary sellers and secondary market resellers, including barring speculative ticket sales as well as barring the purchase of tickets for sale at prices above set limits and blocking the use of bots or other system designed to circumvent quantity limits on ticket purchases.
The proposed legislation would also impose new restrictions on ticket reseller marketplaces requiring them to prominently disclose that they are a secondary market platform and barring resellers from suggesting that an event is sold out when it is not.
California’s SB 785 protects fans, artists, and venues from the predatory ticket sellers who are driving up prices for Californians using deception, non-competitive practices, and scams,” said Stephen Parker, Executive Director of the National Independent Venue Association. “As law, this bill will restore trust and fairness in California’s ticket-buying process and protect fans from these unchecked resellers that tarnish the live entertainment experience. NIVA strongly advocates for the bill’s passage and hopes it can inspire other states to implement similar reform.”
“I have heard countless stories from consumers who were misled during the purchase of live event tickets,” said California State Senator Anna. M. Caballero (D-Merced). “Predatory practices, such as selling unauthenticated tickets, using deceptive websites or employing bots, harm the consumer experience. Small, independent venues are left to deal with customer complaints, refund requests or disputes over ticket authenticity. It is time we modernize California’s ticketing statute in order to protect consumers from anti-consumer practices and price gouging. SB 785 is a consumer protection bill that ends the predatory practices that currently plague the live entertainment ticketing industry by enacting meaningful reforms that place consumers, venues, artists and teams first!”
”Passage of SB 785 will put California, the birthplace of the modern concert industry, squarely where it should be: out in front and leading on protecting the consumer and the small businesses that depend and interact with consumers every day,” said Jim Cornett, Owner of Harlow’s in Sacramento and NIVA’s California Chapter President. “We want to thank the author, Senator Anna Caballero (D-Merced), for her leadership as well as Assembly Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee Chair Asm. Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-San Ramon) for working with artists, venues, and nonprofits to get this policy right. We are ready to roll up our sleeves to get this to Governor Newsom’s desk.”
