CALIFORNIA, USA — California lawmakers are cracking down on ticket companies and say Ticketmaster and Live Nation are a monopoly that hurts consumers.
Ticketmaster currently has at least four different fees added onto ticket costs ranging from, service, order processing, delivery, and facility charge fees. As far as what each charge means, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) says it's up for debate.
"Ticket prices have gone up an astronomical 140%, which is an extraordinary amount," said Wicks.
On Monday, Assemblymember Wicks introduced AB 2808 to provide competition for buying tickets. If the bill becomes law, it would allow ticket buyers to choose where they can buy their tickets and not be limited to just Ticketmaster. Last year, President Joe Biden called for more transparency on extra fees at checkout. The Department of Justice could file a lawsuit later this year.
"We also have investigation by the United States Department of Justice on this monopoly as we speak," said Wicks.
Musician and president of the California Black Chamber of Commerce, Jay King, says Ticketmaster's monopoly on the system not only hurts consumers but also artists.
"When one company controls it all, people feel beholden to them and afraid, imagine one company controlling your dreams and livelihood," said King.
A Ticketmaster spokesperson provided ABC10 with this comment:
"We support reforms to improve ticketing, but AB 2808 will not do that. It will instead undermine the efforts of artists, sports teams and primary ticketing companies to minimize ticket scalping. Forcing artists and venues to hand over their intellectual property and tickets to secondary sites is a ticket scalper’s dream. AB 2808 empowers ticket resellers by blocking any and all price control tools artists can employ, including the use of face value exchanges."
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