Minnesota Passes New Taylor Swift-Inspired Law

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz signed into law a bill that attempts to help online ticket buyers for concerts, sporting events and more from hidden fees and reseller scams.

House File 1989, a reference to Taylor Swift's 1989 album, makes Minnesota just the second state (after Maryland) to take such measures. The issue came to light when Taylor Swift fans were met with headaches and high resale prices when trying to buy tickets to her Eras Tour stop in Minneapolis last year.

A bill for an act relating to consumer protection; requiring disclosures relating to ticket sales; prohibiting conduct in connection with ticket sales; requiring disclosure of data to the commissioner of commerce; allowing enforcement by the commissioner of commerce; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapter 325F.

Part of the legislation states that 'an operator, ticket reseller or online ticket marketplace must, at all times during the ticket listing and purchase process, disclose in an easily readable and conspicuous manner and in dollars the total cost of the ticket, inclusive of all fees and surcharges that must be paid in order to purchase the ticket, the portion of the ticket that represents a service charge and any other fee or surcharge charged to the purchaser.

'The disclosure of subtotals, fees, charges and all other components of the total price must not be false or misleading, and must not be presented more prominently or in the same or larger size than the total price. The disclosure of subtotals, fees, charges and all other components of the total price may be displayed in a manner that allows the purchaser to hide or minimize the list.'

The bill also includes language meant to prevent resellers from taking advantage of potential ticket-buyers as well.

'A ticket reseller or online ticket marketplace must not sell or offer to sell more than one copy of the same ticket to a place of entertainment, directly or indirectly employ another person to wait in line to purchase tickets for the purpose of reselling the tickets if the practice is prohibited or if the place of entertainment has posted a policy prohibiting the practice.'

The bill is effective January 1st, 2025.