A new state law would cap concert ticket resale prices at 10% above face value<\/p>\n
Those familiar with L.A.\u2019s vibrant music and concert culture know the particular heartbreak that often comes with buying tickets \u2014 refreshing a page the moment presale drops, watching the queue crawl forward and arriving at the front of a virtual line only to find that floor seats to your favorite artist are already $800. <\/p>\n
This is the reality of live music in 2026. In Los Angeles, concert-going is part of a cultural identity<\/a>. The Hollywood Bowl is a summertime rite. Coachella is a ritual. Shows at Kia Forum, the Greek and the Wiltern form the connective tissue through which Angelenos experience music and build community. When tickets become inaccessible, much of this cultural connection is lost.<\/p>\n State Assemblymember Matt Haney hopes state lawmakers can fix it. His bill, formally titled the California Fans First Act, would cap ticket resale prices at no more than 10% above the original face value, fees included. The legislation takes aim squarely at the secondary market, where automated bots and shady resellers routinely buy up inventory in bulk and flip it at margins that effectively price out the average fan.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of that extra money is going into the pockets of scalpers and speculators \u2014 not to the artists, not to the venues,\u201d Haney said.<\/p>\n He points to sold-out shows across the state, like a recent Sam Smith concert, where floor tickets that retailed for $150 are relisted within hours for $900, $1,200, sometimes more. For L.A., a city where the live music economy is vast and demand routinely outpaces supply, the pattern is exhausting.<\/p>\n Los Angeles is hardly alone. Across the country, ticketing has become one of the most scrutinized corners of the live music industry, with lawmakers and regulators increasingly focused on the dominance of Live Nation<\/a> and its ticketing arm, Ticketmaster. High-demand tours in recent years have repeatedly exposed the same pattern \u2014\u00a0overwhelming queues, dynamic pricing spikes and resale listings that far exceed face value within minutes of a sale.<\/p>\n The bill has drawn notable support from Ticketmaster, which claims the legislation would protect both artists and fans. Meanwhile, the Consumer Federation of California has been blunt in its opposition, calling the bill a \u201cwolf in sheep\u2019s clothing,\u201d arguing that throttling the secondary market ultimately hands even more structural power to Live Nation<\/a>. Live Nation already controls a dominant share of the U.S. concert industry, and this restructuring could give it unprecedented market control.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a summary of key testimony so far in Live Nation\u2019s legal fight with dozens of state attorneys general who allege that the company illegally monopolized the market for live events https:\/\/t.co\/MXwPB8PZGh<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Bloomberg (@business) March 27, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Scroll to continue reading<\/p>\n