Photo Credit: Viraj Bhalani
A new white paper released by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator exposes ticket resale practices inflating the cost of entry by $11 billion every year.
Ticket resale prices continue to rise due to corporate middlemen and online ticketing platforms, making the cost of entry increasingly unaffordable for many fans as these entities seek to turn a profit. A new white paper released today by the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator (VPA), headquartered next to Nashville’s Music Row, shows that such practices are inflating the cost of live events by $11 billion every year.
The report, titled How to Save Audiences $11 Billion on Live Events, further recommends policy solutions to make entertainment more affordable and accessible, including limiting ticket resale to face value and capping service fees at 10%. The study exposes the way ticket brokers add $4.5 billion in resale upcharges as platform service fees add another $6.8 billion in extra costs.
While resale advocacy groups claim secondary markets save fans money when tickets sell under face value, the VPA’s data shows that fans actually lose $12 to gouging for every $1 saved.
In response, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) and the National Independent Talent Organization (NITO) quickly voiced their support for the VPA report. “Vanderbilt has given Congress, governors, state legislators, and attorneys general the most convincing evidence we’ve seen that resale price gouging has to be reined in,” said Stephen Parker, Executive Director of the NIVA.
“This report uncovers that fans and consumers lose $12 on the resale market for every $1 that scalper advocacy groups claim they save. That is shocking, and it calls for action. Protecting fans with ticket resale price gouging regulations, allowing for resale at the original ticket price or less, is the future of resale in America.”
NITO cited its own data, surveying 65 shows, which found an average resale markup of 91% and platform service fees sometimes exceeding 100% of face value. Moreover, industry leaders emphasize that these billions in service fees and inflated costs never reach the artists, crews, or the venues putting on the shows.
“Stubhub and the resale giants have spent millions on lobbying to convince lawmakers they are saving consumers money,” added NITO Executive Director Nathaniel Marro. “However, the facts are clear as day. Resale is costing fans billions of dollars each year, money that is being drained from our industry and never reaches the artists, crews, or venues that actually put on these shows.”
The report arrives amid momentum across state and federal governments to pass laws capping resale markups or platform fees, including those in Rhode Island, Maine, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. Similar legislation is also pending in Massachusetts.
Federal legislative efforts, such as the BOTS Act, the MAIN Event Ticketing Act, and the Fans First Act, aim to address rampant botting while mandating price transparency. Several European nations as well as parts of Canada have also enacted resale restriction rules.