President Obama signs bill to ban ticket-buying bots
We've all been there, you're huddled over your laptop watching the time tick down to when tickets drop for your favorite concert. Finally, it's time and you search for tickets and suddenly it's sold out, and you know you'll be able to find the tickets online at a third-party site for way too much. This all happens because of bots that scalpers use to buy up as many tickets as they can as soon as they go on sale. However, this is all going to change now that President Obama has signed the Better Online Ticket Sales Act.
The BOTS Act (We see what you did there) “prohibits the circumvention of control measures used by Internet ticket sellers to ensure equitable consumer access to tickets for certain events.” This makes it a federal crime to use bots to buy concert tickets.
Read more: Pierce The Veil, Against The Current, Too Close To Touch, more talk about their first concerts
Recently, You Me At Six's Josh Franceschi spoke to Parliament about this same issue.
“Enough is enough—genuine fans are being priced out of the equation. Music lovers are consumers too, and consumers have rights. In New York, legislation is in place. The U.K. must follow suit,” said Franceschi.
Franceschi is so passionate about the issue that in November, he sold an extra 100 tickets to an intimate You Me At Six show in London that was originally sold out.
LONDON x pic.twitter.com/XqD0vplObt
— Josh Franceschi (@joshmeatsix) October 20, 2016
Have you ever been prevented from buying concert tickets because of these bots? Let us know in the comments!
Watch More: APMAs 2016—YOU ME AT SIX win Best International Band
