by Kevin Hardy, Louisiana Illuminator
September 2, 2023
There’s no question what motivated state Rep. Kelly Moller to push for changes in Minnesota law on concert ticket sales.
“Really, it was the Taylor Swift debacle for me,” she said.
A self-professed Swiftie, the Democrat found herself among millions of other Americans unable to buy tickets last year to Swift’s Eras Tour.
She preregistered for tickets, but never received a code to buy them. And on the day sales went live online, she sat by as friends with codes got bumped out of the ticket queue for no apparent reason. Then Ticketmaster’s website crashed.
The ordeal convinced her that the concert ticket industry warrants more government oversight.
“I do think a lot of that is better served at the federal level, but that said, there are things we can do at the state level,” she said.
Moller introduced a bill this year that would force ticket sellers to disclose the full cost of tickets, including fees, up front to buyers in her state. It also would ban speculative ticketing — a practice in which resale companies sell tickets they don’t yet own.
