Taylor Swift bill enforcing concert ticket protections becomes law

Minneapolis, Minnesota - Minnesota has passed new legislation aiming to protect buyers purchasing concert tickets, inspired by the fiasco surrounding the ticket sales for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour.

A bill motivated by Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour ticket fiasco has become law in Minnesota, targeting resellers and promoting transparency in ticket fees.
A bill motivated by Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour ticket fiasco has become law in Minnesota, targeting resellers and promoting transparency in ticket fees.  © IMAGO / ZUMA Press

House File 1989 – which pulls its name from Swift's famous birth year – was signed by Governor Tim Walz on Tuesday.

The legislation was motivated by issues with junk fees and rampant resellers in the sale of tickets to see the 34-year-old pop star at US Bank Stadium last summer.

Under the law, all fees must be disclosed by ticket sellers upfront, and resellers are no longer allowed to sell more than one copy of a ticket, per Pioneer Press.

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House File 1989 will apply to tickets for all live events held in Minnesota, both those purchased within the state and outside of it.

In November 2022, Ticketmaster's Verified Fan Presale for the US dates of Swift's The Eras Tour crashed the site, leaving fans stuck in the queue for hours – only to be left without tickets or forced to pay exorbitant prices and "service fees," despite the service not working properly.

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Taylor Swift fans have had to battle bots, resellers, and lengthy online queues to snag tickets to The Eras Tour.
Taylor Swift fans have had to battle bots, resellers, and lengthy online queues to snag tickets to The Eras Tour.  © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP

The general sale was later canceled, with Ticketmaster claiming that they did not have enough inventory after the presale.

The Karma singer bashed the site for their mishandling, and Senators soon took aim at the company in a January 2023 hearing, but progress on federal legislation has been quite slow.

While President Biden has helped push transparency in junk fees associated with concert tickets, many music fans argue such efforts are missing the point by not targeting the fees' existence in the first place.

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Ticketmaster praised the new legislation, calling it "one of the nation's strongest ticketing reform laws."

"We applaud Governor Tim Walz, Representative Kelly Moller, and Senator Matt Klein for championing protections for Minnesota consumers and holding ticket resellers accountable," a company spokesperson said.

"We've long advocated for a ban on speculative ticketing, mandating all-in pricing, and enforcing stricter bot laws."

Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Press

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