Noah Kahan, Dropkick Murphys, Pixies, Goose, Lake Street Dive, Aimee Mann, Guster, MGMT, Dispatch, Tom Rush, Stick Figure and dozens of other musicians signed an open letter advocating for the Massachusetts Senate’s Economic Development Bill dubbed “The Great Divide Act.” It is scheduled to come to a vote in the Senate this week.
The bill is also backed by a coalition of major industry advocacy groups, including NIVA, NITO, SAG-AFTRA, Recording Academy, MAC, Future of Music Coalition, and RIAA.
Full test of the letter with all its signatories is below.
What The Massachusetts Great Divide Act Proposes
- Resale Capping: Caps ticket resale prices at 110% of face value.
- Fee Limits: Caps resale platform fees (StubHub, SeatGeek, etc.) at 10%.
- Speculative Sale Bans: Outlaws selling tickets that the reseller does not actually own.
- Deceptive Marketing: Prohibits sites from falsely implying an official affiliation with artists or venues.
The Artist Perspective
In their collective letter, the signees made a direct plea to protect the fan-artist relationship from private equity-backed secondary market platforms:
"Live performance should not be a luxury. Our art is not a commodity to be bought and resold at extreme markups against our wishes. People who contribute nothing to live performance should not profit more than the artists, venues, crews, and workers who bring these shows to life."
A Growing National Trend
If passed, Massachusetts will join a growing list of regions taking aggressive legal action against ticket scalping. Maine, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. have enacted similar caps, with similar legislation currently pending in New York, California, and elsewhere.
Full Text Of Artist Letter In Support Of Massachusetts 'Great Divide Act' To Reform Ticket Scalping
We write as artists who believe deeply in the power of live performance. Shows are where families make memories, where young people discover who they are, and where entire rooms of people share something that cannot be recreated anywhere else. We want these moments to be accessible to everyone, not just those who can afford prices driven by a broken ticket resale market.
Live performance should not be a luxury. Our art is not a commodity to be bought and resold at extreme markups against our wishes. People who contribute nothing to live performance should not profit more than the artists, venues, crews, and workers who bring these shows to life.
Few things hurt an artist more than seeing a fan exploited by a ticket reseller. It's heartbreaking to read comments from fans who paid outrageous resale prices, knowing there's little we can do to help. Every artist signing this letter has experienced that feeling. Predatory resale, scalping, ticket touting, whatever you choose to call it, does more than exploit fans financially. It erodes the trust between artists and the people who support us.
We know how much our fans give to be part of these moments. They plan, they save, and they show up. Our fans support us without hesitation, and we owe it to them to stand up for a system that doesn't shut them out.
Massachusetts is acting to protect our fans by capping resale at 110% of face value, banning speculative tickets and cracking down on deceptive websites. We respectfully ask Massachusetts legislators to stand up for their constituents by protecting fair access to live performances and supporting these reforms.
Aimee Mann
All That Remains
Aoife O’Donovan
Belly
Chadwick Stokes
Couch
Della Mae
Dicky Barrett (Mighty Mighty Bosstones and The Defiant)
Dispatch
Dropkick Murphys
The Elovaters
Extreme
Flawed Mangoes
Four Year Strong
Goose
Grace Potter
Guster
Jonathan Edwards
Killswitch Engage
Lake Street Dive
Letters to Cleo
Lily Fitts
Lori McKenna
A Loss For Words
Mark Erelli
Melissa Ferrick
MGMT
Mike Viola
Mission of Burma
Noah Kahan
Pixies
Ripe
Ryan Montbleau
Shadows Fall
Slapshot
Stick Figure
The Suitcase Junket
Surfer Girl
Sweet Petunia
The Unseen
Tom Rush
Will Dailey