A bipartisan bill filed in the state Senate would crack down on fraudulent ticket resellers. The "Real Tickets, Real Fans Act" would ban speculative ticket sales, where the website sells tickets it doesn't actually have.
Musicians and event venues say they're seeing fans showing up with fake tickets they bought online from the sites.
"They show up to see someone they really want to see, and they don't have a ticket, and the musicians are sitting backstage knowing that they have fans outside that can't get in," said Laurelyn Dossett, a singer from Stokes County. "It's devastating."
The Senate bill would also require ticket resellers to make it clear they aren't the original ticket seller or the event venue. And it would ban the use of bots to buy large numbers of tickets. Bots can cause concerts and sporting events to sell out within minutes, but often the result is venues aren't full.
"We've got weeping people outside who want to come in so much and can't get in," said Heather LaGarde, owner of the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw. "We have really reduced bar sales, which hits your venues very hard because you don't have your full capacity. The bands have really reduced merch sales, which they rely on so much for their bottom line."
Dossett and LaGarde joined the group Arts North Carolina to promote the bill at a news conference Wednesday at the Pour House Music Hall.
Sponsors of the legislation say the ticket reselling practice is currently legal in North Carolina, and the bill faces opposition from ticketing industry groups.
"What we've learned is that it is fraught with special interests and folks who want this bill to fail," said Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell. She's co-sponsoring the bill with Sen. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, and Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake.
"We have some of the strongest consumer protection statutes in the country," Chaudhuri said. "This would allow for civil enforcement."
Asked about the bill's prospects in the Senate this session, Senate leader Phil Berger said he wasn't familiar with the issue.
The news conference on the ticket reselling regulations was part of a larger "Arts Day" advocacy event in Raleigh. Arts groups are also pushing legislators to:
- Increase grant funding to the N.C. Arts Council, which funds local arts nonprofits across the state; they say the grant funding is less per capita in North Carolina than in states like South Carolina and Mississippi
- Require public elementary school students to receive weekly instruction in both visual and performing arts
- Include arts organizations in Helene recovery programs in western North Carolina
