There is a petition going around the internet and it’s one that everyone should probably sign. Introduced earlier this year by Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn, the Better On-line Ticket Sales Act would prohibit using scalper bots to gain quick access to ticket sales. Blackburn’s proposed bill aims to help honest fans of music events and other live entertainment shows by ensuring that everyone has a fair chance of purchasing tickets at the same rate.
It is a dilemma heard round the music world: tickets for live entertainment sell out at ridiculously quick rates and are then resold at grossly inflated costs. The reason behind this misfortune is that many scalpers use bots to quickly purchase tickets the minute they are available, thus making it harder for fans to actually get affordable tickets. It is estimated that around 60% of tickets in the industry are taken by scalper bots and sold on resale websites like Stubhub or Craigslist for 100-500% more than its face value. Not only is this unfair to the true fans of music who just want to enjoy live events, but it is also arguably unethical: scalpers are making good money by exploiting people who have no other choice but to buy tickets from a secondary source. If you have ever been forced to buy an expensive ticket from scalpers, chances are you’re not alone. There is also always the chance that scalpers are selling fraudulent tickets, which causes quite a disaster for everyone involved (except the seller).
If you are tired of being forced to fight for tickets only to come up short, then lend a hand and sign the petition. It’s time we fight back as a community and say, “Death to scalper bots!” You can read more about the bill here and sign the petition at their change.org page.