The bill caps resale prices on live performance tickets and ends speculative ticketing in which resellers are selling tickets they do not yet have in their possession.

Today, DC Councilmember Charles Allen (Ward 6), backed by a coalition of local venues, artists, and national independent music organizations announced legislation targeting scalpers and secondary ticketing platforms, like StubHub, Vivid Seats, TicketNetwork, Ticket Center, and SeatGeek, by putting in place a price cap on resold tickets, banning speculative ticket sales, and requiring individuals and businesses selling more than 50 tickets a year to register with the District.

Joining the announcement were I.M.P. and 30 local venues and music industry organizations, including the National Independent Venues Association (NIVA), local musical artist CJ Johnson of Oh He Dead, and the Office of the DC Attorney General. The event took place inside The Anthem, one of DC’s premier live music destinations, and included representatives from many of DC’s music venues.

“Right now, people who want to go to a live show in DC are competing against companies and scalpers who make a lot of money by immediately scooping up as many tickets as possible and re-selling them at a much higher cost than the venue or performer is asking,” Councilmember Allen said. “A $40 ticket could end up reselling for over $1,000. The result is fewer fans can afford to see their favorite artist at one of the amazing venues DC has to offer. These middlemen are making millions by driving up prices, with the profit exclusively going to the scalper and never to the artists or venue. They aren’t performing on stage, they aren’t running a venue – they’re just making it all more expensive.”

The Restricting Egregious Scalping Against Live Entertainment (RESALE) Amendment Act of 2025 proposes capping the amount a ticket can be sold for on the secondary market at face value plus up to 10%. It requires any individual or business reselling more than 50 tickets per year to register with the District, and bans the practice of “speculative ticket sales,” which means only people who already have a ticket can resell it. Violators of the law would be fined as much as $10,000 per ticket.
In just one recent example of speculative ticketing, tickets for The Sparks show at Lincoln Theatre have not yet been released to the public, but are listed on StubHub, Vivid Seats, Ticket Center, and TicketNetwork for as much as $1,080 at the time of writing. Tickets will be available from the Lincoln Theatre for $55.

“Washington, DC has the opportunity to stop deception and price gouging in ticketing across the nation’s capital,” said Executive Director of the National Independent Venue Association Stephen Parker. “NIVA will do everything possible to help the DC Council enshrine the RESALE Act of 2025 into law this year and fully protect consumers in the District from predatory resale practices.”

“We want fans to be able to buy real tickets at the price the artists set, not get deceived and fleeced by scalpers,” Audrey Fix Schaefer, Director of Communications for I.M.P. said. “The RESALE Act, when signed into law, will protect consumers from price gouging, allowing them to go to more shows, which is good for the artists, our venues, and the city. I believe the Office of the Attorney General takes this seriously, and considering the proposed fines, I think the scalpers and the platforms that host them will take this seriously, too.”

“District consumers deserve fairness and transparency when deciding how to spend their hard-earned money,” DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb said. “As the District’s independent Attorney General, my office has taken action against companies across a range of industries — including hotels, food delivery apps, and live event ticketing companies — that deceive customers by advertising low prices and only revealing hidden junk fees later on in the purchasing process. I applaud Councilmember Allen for introducing this bill, which not only makes it crystal clear that drip pricing and junk fees are illegal under District law, but also introduces additional important and practical protections for ticket buyers.”

This legislation aims to protect artists, venues, and consumers in the District from unfair and deceptive practices in live event ticket purchases by:

• Capping the price of tickets resold to the total price of the initial ticket plus up to 10%;
• Clarifying the existing Consumer Protection Procedures Act with language specifying that ticket issuers, resellers, and secondary ticket exchanges must clearly and conspicuously disclose certain information upfront regarding ticket pricing;
• Banning the sale of speculative tickets;
• Ensuring the listing for a ticket and each step of a transaction shall clearly and conspicuously disclose the total price of the ticket, including an itemized listing of all charges, fees, and taxes;
• Prescribing procedures governing the provision of refunds to consumers;
• Prohibiting a ticket issuer from restricting the transferability of a ticket unless the terms and conditions on transferability are clearly disclosed to the consumer prior to purchase;
• Permitting ticket issuers to maintain and enforce policies and conditions or requirements for ticket purchase with respect to conduct, behavior, public health and safety, or age at the venue or event, and establishing limits on the number of tickets that can be purchased;
• Requiring a ticket issuer or secondary ticket exchange to maintain reasonable technology to prevent any machine, device, computer program, or computer software, with or without human assistance, from bypassing security measures or access control systems designed to limit the number of tickets that can be purchased by a person on a marketplace for initial purchase or secondary ticket exchange;
• Requiring a reseller that sells or offers to sell 50 or more tickets per year to register annually with the Department of Licensing and Consumer Protection, and requiring that registered resellers provide certain information to the Department and maintain a surety bond of no less than $10,000;
• Imposing responsibilities on secondary ticket exchanges to ensure fair practices on the secondary market;
• Requiring the Mayor to issue rules to implement provisions governing the registration of resellers; and
• Providing for civil penalties of $5,000 per ticket for the first violation and $10,000 per ticket for the second and subsequent violations.

Local Venues and Music Industry Organizations Supporting the Bill:

• I.M.P.
• 9:30 Club
• The Anthem
• The Atlantis
• Lincoln Theatre
• Black Cat
• Howard Theatre
• Union Stage
• The Hamilton
• DC Improv
• DC9
• Songbyrd
• Pearl Street Warehouse
• Capital Turnaround
• Pie Shop
• U Street Music Hall Presents
• All Good Presents
• National Independent Venue Association
• Future of Music Coalition
• National Independent Talent Organization
• Recording Academy
• Opera America
• Bandsintown
• Association of Performing Arts Professionals
• International Association of Venue Managers
• Fan Alliance
• Music Managers Forum-US
• Black Music Artist Coalition
• American Federation of Musicians
• Music Arts Coalition
• National Performance Network
• National Cannabis Festival

The bill is being co-introduced by Councilmembers Robert White, Kenyan McDuffie, Zachary Parker, Christina Henderson, Brianne Nadeau, Janeese Lewis George, and Matt Frumin.