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Ticket Resellers' State House Campaign Raises Resale Royalty, Securities Law and Money Laundering Issues

By Chris Castle
May 01, 2023

One of the big issues being debated as fallout from Ticketmaster's problems in trying to service Taylor Swift fans when tour tickets went on sale in November is how to address state live-event ticket sales laws. (See the chart below for a look at legislative activity in 10 states.)

Ticket reseller StubHub recently brought Silicon Valley lobbying tactics to the Georgia Legislature with HB 398 and SB 183 but thankfully didn't put one over on the legislative members. The stated purpose of these Georgia bills is to remove resale restrictions on concert or athletic tickets, and limit the resale to reseller marketplaces like Stub Hub. This would, among other things, effectively prevent artists from taking tickets off manifest for resale through their fan clubs, including at face price.

But HB 398 and SB 183 are dead. This outbreak of sanity and common sense was helped along by the testimony of Mala Sharma of Georgia Music Partners and David Lowery, who lives in Athens, GA, and teaches at the University of Georgia at Athens Terry College of Business. The discussion at the legislature regarding property rights and tickets was brought back to focus on the initial sale and the rights of the performing artist or sports team to control transferability in the first place as an essential property right.

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