People who buy tickets online to live shows, sporting events and other live events in Minnesota will likely be guaranteed more transparency and protections under a so-called Taylor Swift bill signed Tuesday by Gov. Tim Walz.
The law, Sparked by a lawmaker’s frustration at not with the ability to buy tickets to Swift’s 2023 concert in Minneapolis, the bill will, amongst other things, require ticket sellers to reveal all fees upfront and prohibit resellers from selling multiple copy of a ticket. The law applies to tickets purchased in Minnesota or other states for live shows or other live events in Minnesota.
Walz signed House File – a nod to Swift’s birth 12 months and an album of that title – in 1989 at First Avenue, a well-liked concert venue in downtown Minneapolis.
“Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that we would be there for the signing of a House File 1989 bill on First Avenue,” said Democratic Rep. Kelly Moller, lead creator of the bill.
Moller was amongst 1000’s of individuals stuck in ticket sales company Ticketmaster’s system after it collapsed in 2022 on account of huge demand for Swift concert tickets and attacks from bots that attempted to purchase tickets for resale at inflated prices. The situation led to congressional hearings But no federal laws.
Supporters of Minnesota’s latest law say the state is one among the few states, together with Maryland, that has enshrined protections for ticket buyers in law.
Ticketmaster didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment in regards to the latest Minnesota law. Taylor Swift’s media team also didn’t respond.
Jessica Roey, a spokeswoman for StubHub, said in an email: “StubHub has long advocated for legislation that protects fans from anti-competitive and anti-consumer ticket purchasing practices.” We share HF1989’s goals and look ahead to them Continue discussions with policymakers to advance policies that provide more transparency, more control and more selection for ticket buyers.”
Walz, a Democrat, said the brand new law is “protection so you don’t get a bad or fraudulent ticket and resellers don’t get to grab them all before you get a chance.”
Two young girls – one wearing a T-shirt that said “There’s a lot going on right now” in reference to Swift and one other wearing a T-shirt that read “Iowa 22” in reference to basketball star Caitlin Clark – were on the Signing of the bill was attended by Father Mike Dean, who testified in support of the bill this 12 months.
Dean said his daughter “got here to me in December and said, ‘Dad, I would like to go see Caitlin Clark.’ As a father, I just couldn’t resist. And so I went online to purchase tickets.”
The tickets were alleged to cost $300 total, Dean said, but ended up costing greater than $500 due to hidden fees. The timer had began in the course of the online payment process, so he only had just a few minutes left to come to a decision whether to purchase the tickets or lose them.
Ultimately he bought the tickets. However, Dean said these practices lead to customers being unable to make informed decisions. The latest law will bring transparency to the method, he said.
The law comes into force on January 1, 2025 and applies to tickets sold from that date.
Adrianna Korich, director of ticket sales at First Avenue, said she supports the brand new rules and said fans are sometimes tricked into paying as much as 10 times the face value of a ticket because fraudulent web sites and resellers list tickets without actually owning them . The latest law prohibits each, she said.
“We’ve all heard the horror stories of the Taylor Swift Eras tour and seen the astronomical prices charged at the box office,” Korich said.
