A group of independent music venue owners in Northern California joined Democratic Assemblymember Matt Haney in supporting Assembly Bill 1720, known as the California Fans First Act. Supporters say the measure would address extreme price gouging in the ticket resale market and make live events more accessible to fans.
"Whether I'm on the venue side of the barricade or standing in the crowd, I believe the same thing. The people who create the experience should have a say in making it accessible for the people they created it for," said Chaez Boswell, owner of The Rink Studios.
The legislation would cap ticket resale prices at 10% above face value. Supporters say the bill would still allow fans who can no longer attend an event to resell their tickets, while targeting bots that purchase large numbers of tickets and then resell them at significantly higher prices.
"They purchase tens of thousands of tickets at shows all over the country where they think that they see a ticket that's priced low because it's accessible for a fan. They buy as many of them as they can and then they jack up the price and pocket the profit. It's wrong," Haney said.
Daniel Romandia, a talent buyer for Harlow's, said ticket scalping is a frequent problem. He said venues like his routinely get calls from fans asking why they paid so much more for a ticket compared to the original sale price. He also sees fans purchasing tickets from resellers at inflated price points when more affordable tickets are still available directly from the venue.
"It happens here damn near every single day," Romandia said.
Opponents of the bill argue it would primarily affect secondary ticket marketplaces, including sites such as SeatGeek and StubHub, while benefiting industry giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
"This bill by Assemblymember Haney only harms the competition to the monopoly," said Robert Herrell, executive director of the Consumer Federation of California, referring to Live Nation.
Herrell said changes are needed to better protect concertgoers but argued the proposal would ultimately hurt consumers.
"That's going to end badly, and history shows us again and again and again that the losers are consumers who want to see shows and don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg to go see a show," Herrell said.
In a statement, Geoff Vetter, spokesperson for the Coalition for Ticket Fairness, also criticized the measure. He believes the bill would give Ticketmaster more control and fans less choice.
"We've seen time and again how efforts to restrict resale backfire. AB 1720 does nothing to address what tickets cost when they first go on sale. Instead, it restricts the competitive resale market and will further consolidate power with Ticketmaster and Live Nation," Vetter said. "The result will be fewer choices and less flexibility for fans and season ticket holders to shop across marketplaces that compete on price, customer service, transparency, and ticket availability. At a time when Ticketmaster and Live Nation are already facing an ongoing federal antitrust case over their market power, California should be encouraging more competition, not less."
The language of the bill specifies that it would only apply to the resale of tickets where the event is held at an indecent venue where the seating capacity is 3,000 people or fewer, or at a nonprofit venue.
Independent venue is defined as an event space that is not majority owned by a publicly traded company and does not operate venues in more than 10 states.
There is a hearing on Thursday that will determine the fate of the bill.