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Bill targets Hannah Montana ticket scalpers
miamiherald.com ^ | 11/19/07 | GARY FINEOUT

Posted on 11/28/2007 7:08:32 AM PST by TornadoAlley3

TALLAHASSEE -- Responding to what he calls ''obscenely high prices'' for concert tickets, a state lawmaker from Miami Beach wants to crack down on people who scoop up tickets and resell them at hundreds of dollars more than face value.

Rep. Dan Gelber, who has two daughters, ages 7 and 9, will unveil his proposed legislation Tuesday at North Beach Elementary School, just hours before Disney Channel pop sensation Hannah Montana performs at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise.

His bill -- which would have to navigate through a GOP-controlled Legislature before becoming law -- takes aim primarily at those who resell tickets. Gelber, the House Democratic leader, is upset with ticket brokers and others who obtained large numbers of tickets to the Montana show through automated software. Tickets for Hannah Montana are being resold for hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of dollars more than face value.

''A lot of people who wanted to go to the concert would have obtained tickets instead of most of them going to scalpers and resellers,'' said Gelber, who said he was unable to buy tickets to the Montana show because he was unwilling to pay the inflated prices.

Last year, state lawmakers repealed Florida's anti-scalping law that prevented anyone from reselling a concert ticket for more than $1 above the face value. The Legislature overwhelmingly approved the proposal.

Gelber's bill would not bring back the anti-scalping law, but it would make it a crime to use ''ticket purchasing software'' to obtain tickets from a website. The legislation would also require companies that resell tickets to register with the state and post a $50,000 bond. Those who break the law could be fined three times the amount of the scalped ticket.

Any effort to impose price caps on resold tickets would likely be opposed by those who pushed to change Florida law in 2006.

A spokesman for Ticketmaster, the world's largest ticketing company, said there remains a need for people to be able to buy tickets from those who are reselling.

''We recognize and respect the need for a legitimate resale market -- one where tickets are acquired initially in an appropriate and lawful manner, where all relevant laws are complied with, and where the terms and conditions set by the event provider'' are respected, said spokesman Joseph Freeman.

Gelber is trying to enlist the help of Miley Cyrus, the teenage girl who portrays Montana, to join him. Gelber wrote a letter to her agent in California on Monday asking her to attend his Tuesday press conference.

''My daughters -- Sophie [age 9] and Hannah [age 7] -- love your show. My wife and I also like it because it contains family friendly themes. Regrettably, our daughters will be unable to attend your Broward County concert on Tuesday because so many of the tickets were purchased by ticket scalpers who are reselling them at obscenely high premiums,'' Gelber wrote.

''I recognize that the circumstances that created this were not of your making. However, it has hurt your fans -- including the ones in my family -- so I hope you will be willing to speak out,'' he added.

Hannah Montana concerts have created a frenzy across the country and three state attorney generals have launched investigations into the sale of the tickets. Last week a lawsuit was filed against Montana's fan club, alleging that those who joined were told that they would be given first crack at concert tickets.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hannahmontana; scalpers; tickets
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To: TornadoAlley3

If people weren’t willing to buy from scalpers, they’d stop in pretty short order. Who wants to spend that kind of money on tickets to have nobody buy them? And it isn’t worth your time to sell them for what you paid.

The people buying scalped tickets are the ones contributing to the problem.


41 posted on 11/28/2007 8:43:55 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: metmom
The people buying scalped tickets are the ones contributing to the problem.

The people paying for those tickets are paying what they think is the value of those tickets to them. Nobody is putting a gun to their head and forcing them to pay those prices.

42 posted on 11/28/2007 8:45:55 AM PST by dfwgator
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To: TornadoAlley3

Elected officials are getting involved with Mr Achy Breakies little girl’s performances?

Good lord....there are more important things they should be doing.


43 posted on 11/28/2007 8:47:50 AM PST by Badeye (Free Willie!)
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To: TornadoAlley3

OMG!! Hey Dan Gelber.....your little PRINCESSES are learning a HIDEOUS lesson!! You make me sick...a LAW because your little princesses can’t see Hannah Montana?????


44 posted on 11/28/2007 8:48:17 AM PST by Ann Archy (Abortion: The Human Sacrifice to the god of Convenience.)
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To: Tax-chick
Be VERY careful with Twink...
45 posted on 11/28/2007 8:53:04 AM PST by itsamelman (Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh. - - Al Swearengen)
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To: hotshu

“I thought it read Bill Targets Hannah Montana.”

Not a chance in hell.


46 posted on 11/28/2007 8:58:51 AM PST by 444Flyer (NEVER take a "mark" to "buy or sell"!Heb 9:27, Rev 22:17,John 3:1-36, Eph 6, Rev 12:11, Jer 29:13-14)
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To: TornadoAlley3

Hannah Montana Ticket scalping was the focus of several letters to the editor and articles in my local paper as there was a performance here last week.

In every case, mommy or daddy were whining because poor little princess couldn’t go see the show while other, more affluent parents could afford scalper’s prices.


47 posted on 11/28/2007 9:04:36 AM PST by Rb ver. 2.0 (Global warming is the new Marxism.)
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To: 444Flyer

I’d hope Billy Ray would bust Bubba’s arse if he so much as leered at his daughter.


48 posted on 11/28/2007 9:06:06 AM PST by Rb ver. 2.0 (Global warming is the new Marxism.)
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To: TornadoAlley3

>>Gelber’s bill would not bring back the anti-scalping law, but it would make it a crime to use ‘’ticket purchasing software’’ to obtain tickets from a website. The legislation would also require companies that resell tickets to register with the state and post a $50,000 bond. Those who break the law could be fined three times the amount of the scalped ticke<<

What a dumbass.

“Ticket purchasing software?” I wonder how carefully he defines that.

And a $50,000 bond will leave only big brokers.

Not to mention its totally free enterprise.

Now what I would like to see is what Mel Brooks did with the Producers on Broadway - sell the premium tickets for a lot to start with so the money goes to the show not the scalpers.


49 posted on 11/28/2007 9:07:25 AM PST by gondramB (Preach the Gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.)
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To: dfwgator

That’s beside the point. If they willingly pay scalpers the prices they’re asking, they’re contributing to the problem. If there were no buyers, the scalpers would quit.


50 posted on 11/28/2007 9:15:23 AM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: Deut28
Free Market is quickly being replaced. Other artists have found reasonable ways around this issue without government intervention.

Really. How hard would it be for Ticketmaster to put in a software enhancement such that no more than X tickets may be purchased for certain events with any single credit card, or be sent to any single address?

51 posted on 11/28/2007 9:18:21 AM PST by PapaBear3625
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To: Rb ver. 2.0

I’d hope Billy Ray would bust Bubba’s arse if he so much as leered at his daughter.”

A Big Daddy doesn’t take “kindly” to these kind of things. He protects His “butterfly kisses”.


52 posted on 11/28/2007 9:28:49 AM PST by 444Flyer (NEVER take a "mark" to "buy or sell"!Heb 9:27, Rev 22:17,John 3:1-36, Eph 6, Rev 12:11, Jer 29:13-14)
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To: Hildy

I love the show and am a big fan of Miley. It is hard to believe she just turned 15 last week - she does act her age, but she also delivers her acting lines like someone much older, certainly not the 13-year-old she was when she started the show.

She’s a good girl, too, and goes to church, doesn’t date. I hope it stays that way with her. I like her bubble-gum music, too - lol, she’s just an all-around cutie, I think.

I’ve been amazed at her widespread popularity, though, and this ticket price phenomenon everywhere she appears. Our rodeo here in Houston is a long, long-time high-profile annual event - think “Elvis” being one who performed here - and Hannah Montana set new records last year, outselling everyone who had ever performed here!

It was truly amazing - and she’ll be here again in March for it, and of course, some people are buying up the season tickets for the rodeo (all performers throughout the two weeks) just to get HM tickets for less than the scalping price. Incredible!


53 posted on 11/28/2007 9:29:18 AM PST by Rte66
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To: Rb ver. 2.0

BTW like your tag and Green ain’t keen.


54 posted on 11/28/2007 9:31:25 AM PST by 444Flyer (NEVER take a "mark" to "buy or sell"!Heb 9:27, Rev 22:17,John 3:1-36, Eph 6, Rev 12:11, Jer 29:13-14)
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To: Rb ver. 2.0

Anyways, no worries cause Bubba’s machine is broken these days.


55 posted on 11/28/2007 9:35:53 AM PST by 444Flyer (NEVER take a "mark" to "buy or sell"!Heb 9:27, Rev 22:17,John 3:1-36, Eph 6, Rev 12:11, Jer 29:13-14)
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To: Hildy

Maile sounds like a delightful plant! Was the dog that nice? (Bet he didn’t smell like vanilla.)


56 posted on 11/28/2007 9:52:53 AM PST by Xenalyte (Can you count, suckas? I say the future is ours . . . if you can count.)
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To: Xenalyte

Can you believe her HLSR records? Just amazing. I think Reba also got an award last year for being the first female artist to have performed for over 1 million people at the rodeo.


57 posted on 11/28/2007 10:09:13 AM PST by Rte66
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To: TornadoAlley3
Why someone would pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to see some prepubescent twink is beyond me, but from what I've seen of this story, the pimps, er, concert promoters were just sorry that the scalpers were getting the money, and not them.

Any so-called 'parent' who would shell out the bucks demanded to either type of seller is going to have way more trouble with their 'princess' down the line than just the current raid on the champaign-and-brie fund. When working class parents tell their kids "No" to this sort of extortion, they build character instead of consumerism.

58 posted on 11/28/2007 10:29:29 AM PST by hunter112 (Change will happen when very good men are forced to do very bad things.)
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To: Xenalyte

Actually, the dog is very sweet!


59 posted on 11/28/2007 10:47:28 AM PST by Hildy (Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.)
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To: hunter112

Bah humbug...didn’t you ever go to a concert when you were young? Parents would rather shell out hundreds of dollars so their children can see wholesome entertainment than pay less to see scantily clad women hump men on the stage.


60 posted on 11/28/2007 10:49:05 AM PST by Hildy (Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.)
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