After a 66-42 vote on Thursday, the Michigan House of Representatives approved House Bill 5108 which could legalize ticket scalping statewide.
Ticket scalping (reselling an event ticket for more than face value) has remained a misdemeanor punishable by 90 days in jail, or a $500 fine, in Michigan since 1931. Laws regarding the resale of tickets-for-profit vary between states, and many times are determined by local legislation or even a venue’s management. Michigan law states that scalping is only allowed after a reseller has gained approval from the event venue.
According to artists and venues, the state’s current law has been instrumental in keeping large-volume brokers from running high-tech operations and unfairly raising market prices. Though venues generally work in harmony with resale giants like StubHub and eBay, many venues and artists have been quick to criticize ongoing legislation for giving such services an unfair advantage.
One of the bill’s most out-spoken critics is Detroit’s own Kid Rock. The artist/actor/music producer voiced his opinions regarding the proposed bill in a recent article in the Detroit Free Press, written by Kid Rock himself:
“The current law is the only one we have on the books to go after these guys who are destroying ticket prices. You can’t begin to protect fans by taking away the one and only protection they have. If lawmakers look back on their first concert, I bet they weren’t paying $1,000, $500 or even $300 — that’s garbage.
People say this bill is about letting the average guy go out and sell his tickets when his grandma gets sick and he can’t go to the concert. Nowhere does it say you can’t do that now. You occasionally just can’t sell them for more than the face value. If you remove the law that helps keep tickets at the price the artists intend, it will put scalpers ahead of fans.”
The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Tim Kelly (R-Saginaw Township), argues otherwise. “We pretty much already have corporate-sanctioned scalping going on,” Kelly said during a January 15 testimony hearing. “These people want to have a monopoly on the market.”
Rep. Tim Kelly of Saginaw
Kelly has maintained that House Bill 5108 will remove the “fuzziness” from current legislation, and protect the average ticket-holder within a free-market system. Rep. Kelly’s January testimony was assisted by representatives from eBay, TicketNetwork, the Police Officers Association of Michigan, Americans for Prosperity-Michigan and the Michigan Ticket Fairness Coalition.
House Bill 5108 is scheduled to reach the Michigan Senate Tuesday, March 4, where it is expected to be referred to a committee for consideration.