If you were one of the many who tried to grab tickets to see Taylor Swift in concert when she came to Minneapolis, you were probably pretty frustrated with the process. Even if you were one of the few who were able to get through the queue and purchase tickets, you likely did a double take after all the hidden fees were added to the total cost of your tickets. More likely, you didn’t secure tickets because of predatory bot purchases and then had to look on the inflated secondary market where even more shadier tactics like fraudulent or duplicate sales happen each day.
Taylor Swift Law
The process left one Minnesota legislator so upset that she pushed for changes, which led to the creation of House File 1989 (an homage to Swift’s birth year and her album 1989). According to the law, ticket sellers will now be required to disclose all fees up front when a person attempts to secure tickets to an event online. Moreover, resellers will be prohibited from selling more than one copy of a ticket, among other changes. The law will apply to all tickets purchased in Minnesota or other states for concerts of live events held in Minnesota.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we would be at a bill signing for House File 1989 at First Avenue,” Democratic Rep. Kelly Moller, chief author of the bill, said.
Rep. Moller was one of the many who become stuck in Ticketmaster’s system while trying to secure tickets for Taylor Swift’s concert in Minnesota. Mike Dean, a father who spoke in favor of the Taylor Swift bill earlier this year, said he became very frustrated with the online purchasing process when trying to secure tickets to go see Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark this year. He said the tickets were supposed to cost $300, but once the hidden fees were added, his total surpassed $500. With only minutes to secure his order before the tickets were re-released to someone else, Dean bit the bullet and paid for the tickets. He’s hoping the new bill brings more transparency to the process and allows consumers to make more informed decisions.
The new law will go into effect on January 1, 2025, and will apply to all tickets sold on or after that date.
The online ticket buying process is broken, but hopefully these changes will be a step in the right direction. Predatory fees and bots are squeezing money out of people who simply want to take their kids to see a ballgame or a concert. We don’t expect this new law to fix everything with the broken system, but it’s a start, and hopefully federal regulators are watching this move closely. They could learn a thing or two about protecting consumers.
We’ll see how things change in 2025, but in the meantime, if you or someone you know needs help with a criminal matter in Minnesota, reach out to Avery and the team at Appelman Law Firm today at (952) 224-2277.
