Yet another chaotic rollout for tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras Tour is prompting lawmakers in Brazil to propose new legislation aimed at scalpers. This week, the international pop star added new international dates to her blockbuster tour—the first abroad dates announced so far—causing a swell of demand around the globe.
As opposed to the online pre-sales that left thousands of fans around the U.S. cursing at computer screens, this latest round of staggered ticket sales in Brazil happened in person. Fans congregated in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro for a chance to secure tickets to the concerts, which will mark Swift’s first trip to Brazil since 2012.
At both locations, however, there were widespread reports of scalpers cutting in line and threatening angry fans with weapons including metal pipes. Other scalpers used wheelchairs to gain preferred entry into the line and then “miraculously” walked again, according to São Paulo outlet Jovem Pan. As fans camped out for hours for the chance to purchase tickets, many hid under makeshift blanket forts so as to not be photographed by scalpers for fear of later retaliation.
Even after local authorities eventually cleared out agitators, the phrase “T4F Queremos Respeito” (We Want Respect) went viral on social media, aimed at the concert’s promoter Time 4 Fun (T4F). In the nation’s capital, Brazil’s congress is mulling new legislation to enforce tougher penalties on scalpers.
Technically, the crime of scalping is already illegal under Brazilian law, with most offenders charged under the Law of Crimes against the Popular Economy (translated from Portuguese). Congresswoman Simone Marquetto wants to put a higher price tag on the offense, increasing the maximum jail time from one to four years and setting fines for up to 100 times the cost of the resold ticket. If the legislation passes, fines for resold Swift tickets could be as high as $125,000. The new piece of legislation has been nicknamed the “Taylor Swift Bill”.
“The exploitation of the Brazilian population by so-called ‘scalpers’ at any paid events expected to see a big public influx is public and notorious,” an English translation of the bill reads, per The Brazilian Report. “These tickets touts’ activity deprives the less fortunate, preventing them from attending the desired show, and constitutes a true crime against the public economy. There are many examples showing that the concerns expressed above are justified. The most recent is the case of the sale of concert tickets of an international singer. Fans claim that dealers purchased a large number of tickets, making it impossible for other consumers [to do so].”
Meanwhile, in the United States, the backlash from last year’s Taylor Swift Eras Tour pre-sales recently led to leading ticketing companies agreeing to adopt “all-in” pricing. During a meeting last week with President Joe Biden, both Ticketmaster and SeatGeek agreed to begin disclosing all fees and charges associated with a ticket upfront, rather than tacking them on at checkout.
[H/T Consequence]