{"id":261858,"date":"2026-04-10T23:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261858\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T23:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T23:50:08","slug":"pay-4000-for-your-coachella-ticket-this-california-bill-may-curb-scalping","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/261858\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay $4,000 for your Coachella ticket? This California bill may curb scalping"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coachella is never cheap, much less this year\u2019s sold-out edition with the long-awaited live return of Justin Bieber. But if you\u2019re looking to score a last-minute pass, you likely lost your swag <\/a>when you saw the resale prices on secondary sites like StubHub. <\/p>\n

As of Friday afternoon, you\u2019ll pay between $4,000 and $5,000 for a sold-out weekend one GA pass on StubHub. (Prices are lower for weekend two on Coachella\u2019s official resale site<\/a>. Weekend one tickets originally retailed for $649). <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s insane,\u201d said California Assemblymember Matt Haney (D-San Francisco), who has introduced AB 1720, the California Fans First Act, to combat extortionate ticket re-selling. Haney\u2019s bill would ban reselling tickets at more than 10% above face value in California. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve allowed live events including Coachella to be dominated by speculators who aren\u2019t fans, but who simply want to profit off these events,\u201d he continued. \u201cThey didn\u2019t contribute to Coachella, they don\u2019t play an instrument. They\u2019re using events as a way to screw over fans and jack up prices. The result is that people who are Justin Bieber fans pay eight or nine times over the face value of a ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n

The proposal comes as the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced a settlement<\/a> with Live Nation in a federal suit that will allow it to keep control of Ticketmaster. Many states, including California, are looking at options to pursue their own legal action and legislation to fix a ticket market fans have come to see as deeply broken.<\/p>\n

Coachella, produced by Goldenvoice and AEG, isn\u2019t affiliated with Live Nation or Ticketmaster. But eye-watering secondary market prices are an example of how desirable concerts have become a hot commodity for predatory resellers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to break up [Live Nation\u2019s] monopoly, but there is a problem with the secondary market and the ways we\u2019ve allowed scalpers to crowd out fans. That exists on all platforms,\u201d Haney said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to address monopolies and ridiculous fees in direct ticket sales, but we also can\u2019t allow scalpers to buy up tickets to profit off the art of others. I have no doubt that if we didn\u2019t allow gambling on ticket prices, there would still be Coachella tickets available for fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

The issue of high concert prices is multifaceted, and artists and promoters play more of a role than many fans want to believe. The technology exists for many tours to do what Haney\u2019s bill proposes \u2014 cap resale prices \u2014 on their own. Fans clearly are willing to pay extremely high prices for in-demand performances like Coachella. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf people are willing to pay a lot to see a performance,\u201d Haney said, \u201cThose dollars should go to the artist, to folks who work at the event. If demand is high, tickets may be expensive, but we shouldn\u2019t allow scalpers to create scarcity and higher prices.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the California Fans First Act were to pass (it\u2019s still working through the Assembly) it would bring the state\u2018s ticket market more in line with many European countries that already ban exorbitant resale practices. Other states like New York are considering similar legislation, and in the absence of federal action to address issues in the ticket market, state legislation may be the next best option. <\/p>\n

Haney hopes California \u2014 a state whose cultural identity and economy is deeply tied to live music \u2014 can lead on that front. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no California without creators and culture and music,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the heart and soul of who we are, it\u2019s a massive part of our economy and part of our culture. We have to make sure creators can receive the support for their art, and that fans have the opportunity to experience it. Right now, we\u2019re losing on both fronts. There\u2019s an urgency for this legislation here more than anywhere because of how central it is to who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coachella is never cheap, much less this year\u2019s sold-out edition with the long-awaited live return of Justin Bieber.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[7,64057,115087,6522,11154,18753,115090,48,52,51,3001,115088,75987,47,50,49,115091,115093,115092,115089,36038],"class_list":{"0":"post-261858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-bill","10":"tag-coachella-ticket","11":"tag-culture","12":"tag-fan","13":"tag-haney","14":"tag-high-concert-price","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-legislation","19":"tag-live-event","20":"tag-live-nation","21":"tag-los-angeles","22":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","23":"tag-los-angeles-news","24":"tag-re-sale-price","25":"tag-scalper","26":"tag-sold-out-weekend","27":"tag-ticket-market-fan","28":"tag-ticketmaster"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}