The State(s) Of Ticketing: Cali., NY Latest To Ponder Resale Price Caps

A California assemblymember has introduced a bill that would cap ticket resale prices at 10% above face value.

The bill proposed by Assemblymember Matt Haney, a San Francisco Democrat, would apply to tickets for concerts, comedy shows and theatrical productions, but not sporting events, which could continue to be resold at any value.

“For decades, concert tickets were sold at face value to real fans who wanted to see the artists they loved,” Haney said. “But today, professional scalpers and bots buy up tickets in seconds and resell them at massive markups.”

Haney argued that high resale prices for marquee events also effect independent venues and small club shows, as well.

“When fans overpay for one event, they cannot afford to attend others, weakening local music scenes and the small businesses that depend on them,” he said in a release announcing the California Fans First Act.

Resale caps have found broad rhetorical support — Kid Rock, for example, is an advocate of caps and a law banning for-profit resale is expected in the UK later this year — but have proven thornier to actually implement. In 2024, Maryland implemented a comprehensive ticketing reform package. As originally written, it included a hard 10% resale cap, but that provision was not included in the final bill. Thus far, Maine is the only state with a hard resale cap.

Meanwhile, in New York, several provisions of its ticketing bill are due to expire July 1. In response, State Sen. James Skoufis (D-Queens) is proposing a raft of amendments to the Empire State’s ticketing laws, including a resale cap, a fee cap and a ban on speculative tickets. Skoufis was to introduce the bill Friday morning, according to The Hollywood Reporter, though he had not done so by early Friday afternoon Eastern time.

National Independent Venue Association executive director Stephen Parker said that while independent venues or “many artists groups” were involved in the crafting of the reputed legislation, he’s “grateful” to Skoufis and hopes that more groups are at the table as the legislation advances.

“We are going to be watching very closely in New York,” he said.

Some proposals advanced on ticketing reform by Skoufis and others in the past have treated venues and artists the same as the resale market in terms of caps on fees and other items, which Parker says is unfair, since venues — particularly small and nonprofit venues — and artists have costs associated with production and infrastructure that a secondary seller simply does not have to incur.

“Ultimately no bill that passes in New York should treat independent venues and artists the same as resale,” he says. “That includes any impediments on how artists recoup their costs.”