He was all smiles and dressed to the patriotic nines. Kid Rock helps President Trump sign an executive order in the Oval Office, according to the Associated Press.
The Detroit area rocker was invited to the White House yesterday by the President as he signed the order which he says will help curb secondhand ticket sale price gouging and bring “commonsense” changes to the way live events are priced.
“Anyone who’s bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 years — no matter what your politics are — knows that it’s a conundrum,” said Kid Rock.
The order directs the Attorney General and the Treasury Secretary to ensure that secondhand ticket buyers/sellers, offering tickets at higher prices than their face value, comply with all Internal Revenue Service rules.
It also orders the Federal Trade Commission to make sure there is price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process and to enforce unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondhand ticket market.
“You can buy a ticket for $100. By the time you check out, it’s $170. You don’t know what you’ve been charged for,” Rock added. “But, more importantly, the bots, you know, they come in, they get all the good tickets to your favorite shows you want to go to, and then they’re relisted immediately for sometimes 400-500% markup.”
Rock says this executive order is a great first step and adds he would eventually like to see a cap on resale prices on tickets. Rock also said he has spoken to Ticketmaster, which he described as “on board” with the change.
Rock also said music artists don’t benefit from higher secondhand ticket prices, as the profits go to the sellers.
“It’s kind of ridiculous. I would rather be, you know, a hero to working-class people and have them be able to come attend my shows and give them a fair ticket price. I can’t control that right now so hopefully this is a step to make that happen.”
The Associated Press adds that this executive order mostly directs federal agencies to enforce existing laws.
President Joe Biden used the FTC to target junk fees added on at the end of the purchase process and the Justice Department accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of running an illegal monopoly over live events, asking a court to break up the system that suppresses competition and drives up prices.
“We support any meaningful resale reforms,” Live Nation said in a statement.
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