When tickets go on sale, we loyal fans line up for our favorite artists, sports teams or events. We wait for hours, sometimes even days, to purchase tickets. But sometimes life gets in the way, and we can’t attend the highly anticipated show or the big game. If Ticketmaster and their allies have their way, we will be stuck with the tickets, unable to sell, donate or even give away the tickets we can’t use.

 Restrictive “paperless” ticketing is a technology that requires purchasers to present the credit card they used to buy their tickets as well as a valid photo ID in order to gain admission to a live event. The use of these “paperless” tickets is a deceptive practice that big ticket companies’ use and are designed to force fans into a system where the original ticker issuer restricts, or prohibits, the transfer of the very tickets a fan bought and now owns.

These restricted “paperless” tickets are near impossible for fans to transfer and in the event the original purchasers plans change, and they cannot attend the event, they are unable to give away or sell the tickets and are forced to eat the full cost of the ticket plus fees.

 No other industry operates this way in Massachusetts, because these restrictions violate some of the fundamental rights written into our state constitution. There has to be a better way.

 The Massachusetts legislature can help. Several bills being considered this session would remove restrictions on the ticket industry, ensuring that:

1) Fans will always have a ticket they can give away, donate or sell if they can’t make a show or game.

2) Fans will control the property they purchase, and not be subject to century old laws that limit their ability to resell their tickets.

Ticketmaster and other industry allies are opposed to these efforts, because they want to protect their monopoly. Let’s protect our rights as fans. Write to the Speaker of the House and Senate President and ask them to stand with fans, not industry insiders.