Noah Kahan Backs Bill Limiting Ticket Resale Prices

Noah Kahan has come out in support of a new bill aimed at limiting ticket resale prices. 

As per Rolling Stone, the Massachusetts bill , ‘The Great Divide Act’, would limit ticket resale prices, bar speculative ticket sales, and cut down on some ticket fees. 

Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced ‘An Act Relative to Closing the Great Divide Between Ticket Prices and Affordability’, shortened to ‘The Great Divide Act’, named in part after a Kahan album. 

Kahan previously backed a similar bill in his native state of Vermont. Fresh off a run of sold-out shows in Boston, Massachusetts, he appeared via video this week to back Healey's bill. 

“I heard about what you’re announcing today and I just wanted to let you know how excited I am about it,” Kahan said. “The artist community and fans will greatly benefit from limiting ticket scalping and the sales of speculative tickets. I love my fans and want to protect them however I can. 

"Artists alone could not tackle the market manipulation of secondary resellers. So, thank you so much for making this a priority in Massachusetts.”

Under the proposed ‘Great Divide Act’, concert tickets on the secondary market would be capped at 110% of their original face value, and secondary ticket sites would similarly only be allowed to take a 10% cut of resold tickets.

The bill comes in the aftermath of the World Cup games at Gillette Stadium, where ‘speculative tickets’ — tickets sellers don't actually have — resulted in hundreds of fans getting locked out of the football games. 

‘The Great Divide Act’ aims at prohibiting this practice. “Far too many Massachusetts residents have experienced the pain of being excited to buy tickets to see their favorite singer or sports team, only to realise that resale prices and fees have driven up the cost to outrageous levels,” Healey said.