New California Bill Aims to Cap Ticket Resale Prices

California state assemblyman Matt Haney has introduced a spot bill titled the California Fans First Act (CFFA), which seeks to cap the price of resold concert tickets at 10% above face value.

What’s a spot bill:

• Essentially, it’s a placeholder bill introduced to meet bill-introduction deadlines that still requires finalized legal language.

Why it matters:

• As Music Artists Coalition Executive Director Ron Gubitz tells Billboard, a resale ticket cap removes “the profit motive” for ticket brokers.

• The flow-on effect is more affordable ticket prices.

• This in turn benefits venues as fans who’ve paid less for tickets will potentially have more money for food and beverages.

The details:

• The bill, labelled AB 1720, would make it illegal to sell secondary tickets above 10% of face value at concert, theater, comedy or other live entertainment in California.

• The bill excludes sporting events.

• It has the backing of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and the Music Artists Coalition.

• Maine is the only other state to have successfully introduced such legislation, although New York, Vermont, Washington and Tennessee are working to implement similar.

• As per Billboard, AB 1720 would work in tandem with the AB 1349 bill that was introduced last year in California legislature, which aims to outlaw speculative ticketing and box office websites that effectively mirror the look of the venue or primary seller’s website “in order to direct sales to the resale market.”

What they said:

• Matt Haney (to Billboard): The bill “is very simple. It is enforceable. It is common sense and it is fair to both fans and artists. It is about the astronomical cost of resale that is being driven by bots and [ticket] brokers who are exploiting a scheme to leech off the work of artists.”