[Slowhand] U.S. Senator proposes waiting period for ticket resellers

[EddyPauley at aol.com]

U.S. Senator proposes waiting period for ticket resellers

By JoAnne Allen
Reuters
Sunday, April 5, 2009; 11:50 PM 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sen. Charles Schumer on Sunday unveiled a proposal 
aimed at giving fans a better chance to buy hot concert tickets at face value 
before ticket resellers scoop them up and raise the prices. 

The proposed legislation would set a two-day waiting period from when tickets 
go on sale through normal channels before a ticket reseller can buy the 
tickets to put on the secondary market, Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a 
statement. 

"The bottom line is we need to create a fair system where fans get first 
crack at good seats at a reasonable price," Schumer said. 

The measure would also require ticket reseller to register with the Federal 
Trade Commission to prevent fraudulent or anonymous sales. 

Schumer unveiled the measure the day before concert tickets go on sale for U2 
performances in New York. 

Schumer said he had discussed the proposed legislation with Ticketmaster, 
which is seeking to merge with the world's largest concert promoting company Live 
Nation. 

Ticketmaster CEO Irving Azoff said he supports the proposal. 

"Ticketmaster recognizes that the ticket resale industry needs far-reaching 
changes to better protect consumers and ensure fair access to tickets," Azoff 
said. 

Ticketmaster was besieged by complaints earlier this year when fans of Bruce 
Springsteen who signed on to Ticketmaster to buy concert tickets were told 
they had sold out within minutes. They were instead directed to the reseller 
TicketsNow which had considerably more expensive tickets. 

Ticketmaster acknowledged last week that it has been subpoenaed or received 
other requests for information from the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal 
Trade Commission and the New Jersey Attorney General's office. 

The law enforcement agencies were interested in Ticketmaster's relationship 
with its reseller TicketsNow, in particular over controversial sales of tickets 
to Springsteen shows in New Jersey on May 21 and 23, according to a company 
email displayed on the industry blog TicketNews.com. 

Ticketmaster has said the problem was caused by a computer glitch. 

(Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Ian Geoghegan) 







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