Pearl Jam: Have Doubts About Ticket Bill

Pearl Jam went before Congress in the 1990s to talk about issues they had with Ticketmaster. Now they’ve written a letter opposing a bill of new regulations for the primary and secondary ticket markets

The letter was sent to New Jersey representative Frank Pallone Junior, who’s the co-sponsor of the Better Oversight of Secondary Sales and Accountability in Concert Ticketing Act. The so-called “BOSS Act” was first introduced back in 2009 after Ticketmaster redirected Bruce Springsteen fans to a secondary site where tickets were sold well above the listed price.

Pearl Jam oppose the bill because it would block non-transferrable ticketing. They write, “Consumers need artists to limit scalping and ticket fraud to use ensure that tickets go to fans instead of profit seekers; transfer restrictions make that possible. Over the last decade of selling concert tickets, we have seen this become an important tool to ensure our fans get to see us at a reasonable price. The benefits to bad actors in the secondary market ultimately hurt the consumers more than the challenges around restricting transferability as professional resellers get tickets meant for fans.”

The band also believes that requiring primary ticket sellers to disclose the total number of tickets offered to the public a week before on sales hurts fans. They write, “Consumers don’t make purchasing decisions based on how many tickets are available — bulk purchasers like professional resellers do. Many times in final planning, after tickets have gone on-sale, we are able to create additional ticket opportunities. Artists need to retain this flexibility, for example, to open ‘obstructed view’ seats after a concert nears sellout.”

Read the band’s entire letter on Politico.

Meanwhile, they released another track off Gigaton.

“Superblood Wolfman” is the song fans were able to get a sample of using an app on their phone and pointing their camera at the Moon last week. Check out the song on YouTubeGigaton is out March 27th.