Trump signs executive order on ticket scalping

US president Donald Trump yesterday signed an executive order, flanked by long-time supporter Kid Rock, which claims to bring “common sense” changes to live event ticketing.

With the secondary ticketing market coming under regulatory pressure in numerous countries, President Trump became the latest political leader to identify the issue as one which cuts through to consumers, claiming that fees had “gotten worse and worse with time”.

The executive order, while welcomed by some in the live music industry, committed to little new action, requiring various branches of the US government to “take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market”.

While Kid Rock claimed the order was a great “first step” and said he would like to see a cap on resale prices, there was no indication that the White House was considering such a move.

“Anyone who’s bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 years — no matter what your politics are — knows that it’s a conundrum,” said Kid Rock.

“You can buy a ticket for $100. By the time you check out, it’s $170. You don’t know what you’ve been charged for. But, more importantly, the bots, they come in, they get all the good tickets to your favourite shows you want to go to, and then they’re relisted immediately for 400-500% markup.”

“Scalpers and bots prevent fans from getting tickets at the prices artists set, which is why we support any meaningful resale reform”

In a statement released with the executive order, the US government said the live business “has become blighted by unscrupulous middle-men who impose egregious fees on fans with no benefit to artists”.

Writing on X, Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino said: “Big thank you to President Trump and Kid Rock for taking ticket scalping head-on, which protects American consumers and artists.

“Scalpers and bots prevent fans from getting tickets at the prices artists set, which is why we support any meaningful resale reforms — including more enforcement of the BOTS act, caps on resale prices, and more.

The move comes in the same week that the UK consultation on the secondary market closes, with the Labour government widely expected to follow it with legislative proposals to restrict the activities of the sector.

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