Pearl Jam has penned a letter to two congressmen detailing what it believes are flaws in the BOSS Act, a piece of legislation designed to tackle touting and the use of bots.
New Jersey Democratic Congressmen Bill Pascrell and Frank Pallone Jr originally introduced the bill, which is officially named the Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing Act, in 2009 and it was reintroduced last year.
The veteran American rock band claims that the bill “blocks non-transferable ticketing” and “requires primary ticket sellers to disclose the total number of tickets offered to the general public a week before the primary sale.” Some consumer advocates, however, argue that allowing ticket transfers is a key protection for consumers.
Pearl Jam wrote: “We write to you as one of the biggest touring bands of the last three decades. We also write to you as the working musicians and the MUSIC FANS we were for years before that.
“For almost 30 years, we have learned from our successes and failures; we have real time experience making sure people buying our tickets actually attend the shows and do not merely sell seats at a markup … H.R. 3248 has been presented as a protection for concertgoers to get access to live concerts. Instead, we believe that it primarily, if not entirely, benefits professional ticket resellers using the so-called ‘secondary market.’”
Pearl Jam claims that the bill as it is currently written would “ultimately hurt our fans,” though it adds that some reforms would “benefit both consumers and artists.”
The band has requested that the two congressmen, Pascrell and Pallone, oppose the act.
A spokesperson for the Energy & Commerce Committee, told Variety: “The live event ticketing market has gotten out of control. Consumers have little insight into schemes designed to drive up prices and efforts to limit their options once a ticket has been purchased. The BOSS Act begins to tip the scales in favour of consumers by providing them greater transparency and control.”
Image: Man Alive!
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