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Rapino Skeptical About Resale Legislation
Michael Rapino spoke to a Canadian paper about Ontario’s possible legislation regarding the secondary market, essentially saying he didn’t think new laws were a solution.
– Michael Rapino
The comments to Toronto’s Globe And Mail were made after his keynote conversation with George Stroumboulopoulos at Canadian Music Week in that city April 20.
The quotes didn’t really diverge from the
“I think some of these [changes] are decent attempts, but I don’t think over all, until you start pricing the product better, and/or have better technology to deliver the fan their ticket, that you’ll start to make a difference,” he said. “As long as the market’s gigantic, you’ll have sophisticated players trying to figure out how to monetize it. … My instincts are always on the free market.”
In February Ontario’s Attorney General announced that officials were considering modifying the province’s Ticket Speculation Act to provide Ontarians with greater protection from bots and scalpers driving prices up.
During the keynote, Rapino stuck to the line that the billions of dollars in the secondary market should be going to the creators rather than touts.