Congress Pass Ban Against Ticket Buying Software With BOTS Act

Photo credit: Mehreen Rizvi

When it comes to the music industry, there are a number of forces working against the “business” in the music business. The biggest force working against the business is the internet. Due to the growth of the internet, record sales have gotten lower and lower and artists are looking for a steady stream of revenue. One of the ways for them to generate income is through concerts. For fans of these artists, the excitement they feel when their favorite artist announce a concert is how to put into words. It is also hard to put into words how frustrated a fan feels when they see that there are no more tickets available to purchase. This situation has grabbed the attention of lawmakers and they have decided to combat the issue of tickets being purchased before fans get a chance.

According to ARSTECHNICA, Congress has passed the BOTS Act to ban ticket-buying software.

For those who are not sure what this means for your concert experience here is how it breaks down.

The Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, signed by Barack Obama,  makes it illegal to bypass any computer security system designed to limit ticket sales to concerts, Broadway musicals, and other public events with a capacity of more than 200 persons. Violations will be treated as “unfair or deceptive acts” and can be prosecuted by the Federal Trade Commission or the states.– reported by Joe Mullin

What lead to this act being passed was an investigation, by Attorney General Eric Schneiderman completed an investigation that revealed that tens of thousands of tickets that were bought by bots were marked up by 49 percent.