'Taylor Swift' bills would crack down on bot ticket purchases, inflated resale prices

Lansing — Michigan lawmakers on Wednesday introduced bills to crack down on the use of automated software programs snarling concert ticket sales and driving up prices for big name performers.

The legislation is similar to the so-called “Taylor Swift” laws recently passed in Arizona after tickets were gobbled up for Swift's Eras concert tour by automated bots that later resold the tickets for higher prices.

While there are laws at the federal level preventing the practice, they are rarely enforced, said GOP state Rep. Graham Filler, who sponsored the legislation with Rep. Mike McFall, D-Hazel Park.

“I’m trying to make Michigan a really unattractive state for these bots to do business,” Filler said. “It’s unfair to people, it’s anti-competitive, anti-capitalist, it’s anti-consumer.”

It's not clear that Michigan concerts have been plagued by the same problems seen in Arizona, but Filler and McFall said they want to take a proactive approach to prevent against a similar event.

The Event Online Ticket Sales Act would prohibit an automated software application from creating multiple IP addresses, email addresses or accounts to buy up tickets for an event that exceed the posted ticket limit. The entertainment events protected by the act include theater performances, concerts, exhibitions or sporting events that are open to the public.

The legislation also would prevent individuals from using software to disable a ticket seller's security measure or circumvent a waiting period, electronic queue or other sales volume limitation programs.

Violations of the act would be investigated by the attorney general and would be punishable by a civil fine of up to $5,000 per ticket. The attorney general also could seek to recover restitution.

“Michiganders are tired of these scalping bots who purchase and hoard tickets for resale, often pricing them out of reach for many hardworking families,” McFall said in a statement Wednesday.

The introduction of the legislation comes more than three years after the Michigan Legislature voted to repeal a 1931 ban on ticket scalping.

The 2020 law — passed after roughly six years of debate — repealed a state ban that was rarely enforced and left the door open to bad actor ticket scalpers who never had a ticket in the first place.

The repeal allowed individuals and businesses to scalp tickets so long as the businesses’ names and websites did not resemble the venue or event for which the tickets are sold. Ticket sellers, under the 2020 law, must have the ticket in their possession at the time of sale or inform the purchaser if he or she does not have the ticket 48 hours ahead of the event.

The legislation at that time prohibited the practice of using “ticketing bot” software, making it subject to a 93-day misdemeanor and/or $1,000 fine.

The legislation introduced Wednesday differs because it allows the attorney general to bring a civil action, not a criminal one, with a higher fine of $5,000 per ticket.

eleblanc@detroitnews.com