Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced new legislation Thursday focused on controlling ticket scalping and limiting the amount of concert ticket resale on the secondary market.
Healey announced the “Great Divide Act” (a nod to the name of New England icon Noah Kahan’s latest album) on Thursday, which if put into law would cap resale prices for concert tickets at 110 percent of the ticket’s original face value, meaning a $100 ticket would only be able to be resold for $110 at most. Other than face value pricing, the bill also stipulates that fees on resale sites cannot exceed 10 percent of the total ticket price. The bill would also ban “ticket scalping,” where brokers list tickets for sale that they don’t actually own yet.
Healey called the legislation “an act to close the large gap between ticket prices and actual affordability.”
Kahan himself provided a brief video statement broadcast during the press conference, in which he expressed his support for the new legislation. “The artist community and fans benefit greatly from the reduction in ticket scalping,” the singer said. “I love my fans and I want to protect them as much as I can. Artists alone have not been able to address market manipulation by secondary distributors, so thank you so much for making this a priority in Massachusetts.”
Kahan has been an outspoken supporter of ticket affordability for music fans, and also lent his vote to a similar bill passed in his home state of Vermont earlier this summer. Outside of the legislation, in his latest round, Kahan used identity verification software on Ticketmaster to try to prevent bots from buying tickets, and also implemented a face value exchange so that tickets could only be resold for the price they were originally purchased for.
Haley said she would put the Big Gap Act in the state’s supplemental spending bill, and it still needs to be approved by the state Legislature to take effect.
“Too many Massachusetts residents have experienced the pain of being excited to purchase tickets to see their favorite singer or sports team, only to realize that resale prices and fees have sent the cost skyrocketing,” Healey said in a statement. “Or what if you purchased tickets from a reseller, then arrived at the venue to realize the reseller never transferred them to you? That’s enough. We’re taking action to lower ticket resale prices so Massachusetts fans can better afford to see their favorite artist or team.”
Kahan just played four sold-out nights at Fenway Park last week, and Healey had previously declared July 11, 2026, “Noah Kahan Day.”
Massachusetts represents the latest in an ongoing trend of states across the country seeking to adopt more aggressive anti-scalping policies. Along with issues like dynamic ticket prices, high fees, and long online queues, the resale market is one of the most notable areas that has caused fans significant frustration with the live music business.
Besides Vermont, the New England state of Maine also adopted similar laws this year, while California and New York have introduced pending legislation of their own as well. The Washington, D.C., Assembly unanimously approved a similar bill on Monday.
