Event ticket disclosure bill defeated in Senate committee

A committee in the Minnesota Senate has defeated a bill that would have required sellers of concert tickets to disclose how many tickets are being held back from the public.

The Senate Judiciary Committee defeated the bill today which was being pushed by the online ticket seller, StubHub, which argued that venues like Target Center and Xcel Energy Center are holding back thousands of tickets for fan clubs, credit card companies and radio stations.

StubHub says disclosing that would show that online ticket sellers are not to blame when big concerts sell out almost immediately. Critics of the bill said the requirement would have prompted big name artists not to play in Minnesota.

The practice would have continued under the bill but DFL Sen. David Tomassoni of Chisholm said fans would have had a better understanding of why tickets are sold out so quickly for the general public.

"I'm not exactly sure what people are trying to hide. It seems to me that it would be very easy for everybody to disclose who has all of the tickets," Tomassoni said. "If Beyonce has 8,000 tickets, so what if she tells all of the people that she has them. I don't think there's anything wrong with that but for some reason they seem to think that that's something that we don't want people to know."

Republican Sen. Julianne Ortman voted against the bill, saying it would create unfair regulations for artists.

"People will make business decisions based on those new regulations and we may put ourselves out of some markets."Ortman said. "Maybe not all. Maybe not one, but I believe it will be considered before people will book their acts here or bring their events here."

The bill's author said he hopes to revive it somehow this session but acknowledged it will be difficult.