President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday intended to combat ticket scalpers and predatory practices by online concert and event ticket vendors, who impose numerous fees and make concerts unaffordable for many Americans.
In the signing ceremony, President Trump appeared in the Oval Office with the musician Kid Rock who thanked him for the action. Last year the musician reached out to then Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi to press for a tougher stance on scalpers.
“America’s live concert and entertainment industry is the envy of the world. But it has become blighted by unscrupulous middlemen who sit at the intersection between artists and fans and impose egregious fees while providing minimal value,” said President Trump.
The president criticized ticket scalpers who use online bots and other shady practices to buy up huge numbers of concert tickets to resell at drastically inflated prices, sometimes up to 70 times higher than the actual ticket cost.
Trump pointed out that scalpers, along with excessive fees from ticket sellers, benefit neither the concertgoer nor the artists.
“My Administration is committed to making as accessible as possible the arts and entertainment that enrich Americans’ lives. The rent-seeking behaviors surrounding the ticketing industry are contrary to this goal,” said Trump.
Kid Rock said the presidential action was a step in the right direction.
“Anyone who’s bought a concert ticket in the past decade, maybe 20 years, no matter what your politics, knows it’s a conundrum,” Kid Rock said.
“You buy a ticket for $100, by the time you check out it’s $170. But more importantly, these bots, they come in and get all the good tickets to your favorite shows you want to go to. Then they’re re-listed immediately for sometimes a 500 percent markup. I’d love down the road if there’d be legislation to put a cap on the resale tickets,” the musician explained
The order instructs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Attorney General to ensure that competition laws are properly enforced in the concert and entertainment industry.
It also instructs the FTC to rigorously enforce the Obama-era Better Online Ticket Sales Act, which outlaws the resale of tickets purchased via automated bots.
The FTC will also take action to ensure that online ticket sellers provide transparent pricing, not luring consumers with apparently low list prices while imposing a slew of additional fees.
The Secretary of the Treasury and the Attorney General will work to ensure that ticket sellers are complying with tax laws.
Within 180 days of the executive order, the Treasury Secretary, Attorney General, and FTC Commissioner are mandated to file a report detailing the actions they have taken to execute the order and shall make recommendations on further regulation or legislation to help protect concertgoers from predatory practices.
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Again, Trump fight for the working man!