by Adriana Hamacher

OP-ED A bill currently going through State Legislature in Connecticut would require concert promoters booking venues with more than 3,000 seats to disclose how they allocate tickets, among other provisions. The bill is backed by the secondary ticket market but opposed by venues and promoters who argue that it’s of limited benefit to consumers and would drive artists away from the state.

But here’s the nub: why would it drive away artists? Why do they care what the venues have to disclose, unless it involves them, too?

When Miley Cyrus went on tour the secondary market brokers got a lot of tickets and the public did not get a lot of tickets. The public accused the brokers of buying up all the tickets but later it was revealed that most of the tickets for every show were held back for various reasons. Only a couple thousand seats were made available to the public for venues with 20,000 seats.

The Connecticut paper, The Hartford Courant interviewed Jim Koplik, chairman of the Northeast region for Live Nation, who has promoted concerts in Connecticut for 40 years.  He admitted what’s common knowledge in the industry: artists give tickets to sponsors and VIPs. Many of these tickets then find their way onto the secondary ticket market. Koplik said “the public could get mad” if they see who gets tickets and artists won't want to deal with the backlash.

The secondary industry, meanwhile, would benefit if this information was released. Public knowledge of ticket allocations would mean that brokers wouldn’t be accused of buying, stealing, taking, or holding hostage all of the tickets to a show.

Of course, the companies booking concerts -- Live Nation, the Bushnell, AEG, etc. -- are private businesses, assuming risk with the intention of making a profit. The venues they book are, largely, privately owned so those tickets are theirs to do with as they please. But surely transparency is ALWAYS a good thing for the consumer? And the other measures within the bill - forcing entertainment operators to allow season ticket holders to resell their tickets and heavy fines for those who try to go around online security measures to get better access to tickets – are also consumer friendly measures.