JAKARTA - The booming entertainment industry in California, United States (US), is now entering a new phase that will favor the pockets of fans.
Following in the footsteps of several other regions in the US that have started to get uncomfortable with the practice of scalping, a formal bill was introduced to limit the resale price of concert tickets in the state.
California State Assembly member Matt Haney officially introduced the California Fans First Act. This regulation is designed with one main mission: to set a maximum price for the resale of concert tickets, theaters, and comedy shows, so that it is no more than 10 percent of the original price.
This bold move was taken to break the absurd price chain that often suffocates fans in the secondary market.
Based on the draft, the base price in question includes the original ticket price plus the official administrative fee from the first platform.
If this rule is enacted, California will follow Maine as the first state to implement a maximum limit of 110 percent by 2025.
The issue of expensive tickets due to monopoly and the actions of middlemen is indeed being in the spotlight in the US. The famous musician, Kid Rock, even testified before the US Congress at the end of January. He called the current system, especially the dominance of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, a total failure that harms all parties except corporations.
"The Live Nation-Ticketmaster experiment has failed completely. Big companies and swindlers routinely raise the cost of tickets to music shows, which is very unfair to fans and doesn't provide any real benefit to the artists themselves," Kid Rock said when speaking on Capitol Hill, quoted by NME, Monday, February 9.
The phenomenon of consumer protection against dynamic pricing and bargaining practices has actually been strengthened in the UK. The British government under the leadership of the Labour Party has confirmed a ban on the sale of tickets above the original price for music, sports, to the theater.
The British Minister of Culture, Lisa Nandy, stated that this step is a victory for the wider community.
"We promised when we were elected that the time for ticket scalpers was over. This is a good day. People can of course still resell their tickets if they don't show up, but not for more than the price they paid. They have to sell them at the original price," said Lisa Nandy.
This California move is predicted to trigger a domino effect in other states such as New York, Washington, and Tennessee, which are drafting similar rules.
For Indonesian music fans who often complain about the phenomenon of 'war tickets' and scalper prices that have soared many times over, this movement in California and England is certainly a fresh reference on how the law should come to protect the rights of art lovers.
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