Look, Governor Newsom just signed a bill that's going to change how concert and sports tickets get sold in California. According to CalMatters Housing, the new law cracks down on what they call "ghost tickets" – these are tickets that sellers list for sale even though they don't actually own them yet. It's a practice that's been frustrating fans for years, and regulators have had a tough time policing it because sophisticated software and artificial intelligence make these schemes hard to catch.
The bill, called Assembly Bill 1349, makes it illegal to sell tickets you don't own and prohibits using software to get around a venue's purchasing limits. The Governor said it plainly: buying a ticket shouldn't come with hidden risks or unfair practices. If sellers violate the law, they could face misdemeanor charges and penalties. The bill requires ticket resellers to take reasonable steps to stop speculative ticket sales before they happen.
The measure had an interesting journey through the legislature. Assemblymember Isaac Bryan, who wrote the bill, shared a real example of the problem – he and a friend were looking at concert tickets online that were priced high and supposedly available before the actual public sale even began. CalMatters reports that fans often buy these tickets without realizing they'll be much cheaper when they actually go on sale, and in some cases, fans never get a ticket at all, leaving small venues holding the bag.
Here's where it gets a bit messy. The bill changed significantly in the final legislative days, and the Governor himself noted in his signing statement that it might exempt some marketplace platforms that probably should be regulated. He didn't name them directly, but critics pointed out that StubHub appeared to get a pass under the final version, even though StubHub spent substantial money lobbying against earlier versions of the bill. Live Nation, which owns Ticketmaster, originally supported the bill, which made some people suspicious that it was designed to eliminate competition.
The National Independent Venue Association actually came out against the final version of the law, according to CalMatters, saying it puts small music venues and nonprofits at legal risk while protecting large resale marketplaces. They worry that independent venues selling presales or VIP tickets could end up breaking the law, which wasn't the intent.
What I'm seeing locally in the Bay Area and across the East Bay is that venue owners and promoters are nervous about how they're supposed to operate under this new law. It's a step forward in protecting concert-goers from predatory pricing, but the implementation details are going to matter a lot for the smaller venues and promoters who make our music scene what it is.
