A group of music and live entertainment organizations is pressing the Senate to toughen federal ticketing legislation, arguing that the current version of the TICKET Act is insufficient in protecting fans.
The Fix the Tix coalition, led by the National Independent Venue Association, wrote an open letter to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation calling for changes to the TICKET Act (S. 281).
The letter was addressed to Chairman Ted Cruz, Ranking Member Maria Cantwell, Subcommittee Chairman Marsha Blackburn, and Ranking Member John Hickenlooper.
“When federal policy falls short, fans pay the price. They lose money, incur unnecessary travel costs, and waste time. They miss the show they planned around. And they often blame the artist, venue, or team – rather than the reseller or platform that misled them. Meanwhile, scalpers and speculative sellers assume none of the risk and face few meaningful consequences,” they wrote.
The push comes over a month after a January 28 Senate Commerce Subcommittee hearing where Blackburn led a panel of lawmakers in pressing Live Nation to do more to clamp down on ticket scalping. Live Nation’s Executive Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Dan Wall, was present at the hearing, alongside musician Kid Rock and other stakeholders.
“When federal policy falls short, fans pay the price. They lose money, incur unnecessary travel costs, and waste time.”
Fix the Tix
The coalition, whose signatories include the Recording Academy, SAG-AFTRA, Eventbrite, the American Federation of Musicians, and more than a dozen other organizations, said the bill contains gaps that bad actors will continue to exploit.
They wrote: “The TICKET Act is a step forward, but without a complete ban on speculative ticketing, enforceable limits on resale pricing and fees, and robust, end-to-end price transparency, bad actors will continue to exploit gaps in the law at the expense of fans and communities.”
On pricing transparency, the groups are demanding disclosure of the base ticket price and every associated fee to appear from the moment a customer selects a ticket, not just at checkout.
“Not requiring ticket price and ticket fees broken out is a shortcoming of the Federal Trade Commission’s all-in pricing rule – and we are looking to Congress to rectify it.”
On speculative ticketing, the coalition is calling for a prohibition “without exception.” They wrote: “As multiple witnesses testified, tickets that do not exist, are not in the seller’s possession, or are marketed through so-called ‘concierge,’ or ‘seat saver’ schemes are not a service – they are deception.”
“The TICKET Act is a step forward, but without a complete ban on speculative ticketing, enforceable limits on resale pricing and fees, and robust, end-to-end price transparency, bad actors will continue to exploit gaps in the law at the expense of fans and communities.”
Fix the Tix
The letter also calls for deleting the bill’s “Services Permitted” provision, and proposes to rectify the act so that “a ticket issuer,
secondary market ticket issuer, or secondary market ticket exchange that does not have actual or constructive possession of an event ticket shall not sell, offer for sale, or advertise for sale such event ticket.”
The third demand is for a ban on reselling of tickets above the original total cost and for a cap of all resale fees at no more than 10%.
“Across the country, fans are being priced out of live events not because artists or venues raised prices, but because resale markets allow unlimited
markups and excessive fees divorced from any added value or risk.”
They added: “A federal prohibition on resale above the original total cost – combined with a strict cap on resale fees – would directly address price gouging, align incentives toward real fan access, and ensure that tickets end up in the hands of fans, not industrial speculators.”
Signatories of the letter include:
- NIVA
- American Association of Independent Music (A2IM)
- American Federation of Musicians
- Americans for the Arts
- Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP)
- Black Music Action Coalition
- Colorado Independent Venue Association (CIVA)
- Eventbrite
- Fan Alliance
- Folk Alliance International
- Future of Music Coalition
- Music Artists Coalition
- Music Managers Forum-US (MMF-US)
- Music Venue Alliance Nashville (MVAN)
- National Independent Talent Organization (NITO)
- National Performance Network
- OPERA America
- Recording Academy
- SAG-AFTRA
- Songwriters of North America (SONA)
- Sound Exchange
- Washington Nightlife & Music Association (WANMA)
A companion House bill, H.R. 1402, passed the House of Representatives with overwhelming bipartisan support in April 2025 and was placed on the Senate calendar in September. S. 281, the Senate’s own version, remains in committee.Music Business Worldwide
