LOS ANGELES, April 25 (Reuters) - The Taylor Swift

concert ticket debacle two years ago is leading state and

federal lawmakers to take aim at sales practices that they say

are deceptive or predatory to music fans.

A main goal of venues and musicians is to outlaw speculative

sales when a seller offers a ticket they do not yet have. In

some cases, they ask thousands of dollars for a ticket that they

can buy later from the primary seller for $200 or less and reap

the profit.

In Maryland, a new law will make speculative ticket sales

illegal starting July 1.

"This is a huge first step," said Audrey Fix Schaefer,

communications director for I.M.P., the company that operates

Maryland's Merriweather Post Pavilion and other venues that

often receive complaints if consumers pay high prices or fail to

receive promised tickets.

Arizona recently cleared similar legislation and nicknamed

the measure the "Taylor Swift Act." When fans were unable to

snag Eras Tour tickets through Ticketmaster, many paid thousands

to buy them through resellers, also known as secondary sellers,

or were tricked by sites selling fake tickets.

Swift has not commented on the ticketing proposals, and a

representative for the singer did not respond to a request for

comment.

Nationwide, bills have been introduced in two dozen states

to address event ticketing practices, according to the National

Conference of State Legislatures.

In Illinois, a ban on speculative tickets has passed the

state Senate. The Colorado House has cleared legislation to

require more pricing transparency and a ban on websites designed

to mimic legitimate ticket sales sites, which may trick

consumers into thinking they are buying directly from a venue.

At the same time, venues and the world's biggest musicians

are pushing for federal reforms.

Companies including Ticketmaster and SeatGeek committed to

greater transparency, known as "all-in" or "upfront" pricing of

a ticket's cost with fees from the beginning, at a White House

event last summer with President Joe Biden, part of his effort

to crack down on what he called "junk fees" imposed by ticket

companies, banks, airlines and others.

"There's more to do to address the problem of online

ticketing," Biden said at the time.

ARTISTS BACK FEDERAL BILL

On Thursday, 250 artists including Billie Eilish and Finneas

O'Connell, Green Day and Fall Out Boy voiced support for the

Fans First Act, a bill pending in the U.S. Senate. No votes on

the measure have been scheduled.

The legislation would prevent speculative ticket sales when

a seller does not have a ticket. It also would require "all-in"

pricing, outlaw deceptive websites and strengthen enforcement of

penalties for bot usage to scoop up tickets.

"We are joining together to say that the current system is

broken," the artists said in a letter to congressional sponsors

of the legislation. "Predatory resellers and secondary platforms

engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices

and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at

a fair price."

So-called spec tickets often are advertised with warnings

such as "only 4 left!," falsely suggesting to consumers that

they should buy immediately or miss out. In some cases, actual

tickets never turn up or brokers send fraudulent tickets.

Ticket-selling platforms said they supported some of the

proposed legislative changes.

Ticketmaster, a unit of Live Nation Entertainment ( LYV )

that sells primary and secondary tickets, said it backed bans on

speculative sales and deceptive websites, as well as better

enforcement of anti-bot legislation.

StubHub "does not allow the sale of speculative tickets, and

sellers found to be in breach of our seller policy face

consequences such as fines and removal from the platform," a

company spokesperson said. If a buyer has an issue, "StubHub

will find an equivalent or better ticket to get a buyer into an

event, or provide a full refund."

The company said it supports U.S. House and Senate versions

of a bill called the Ticket Act. The House version would outlaw

speculative ticketing, among other practices, while the Senate

measure calls for all-in pricing.

Venues and artist groups have formed a coalition called Fix

the Tix, led by the National Independent Venue Association

(NIVA), that is pushing for passage of the Fans First Act, which

they say offers the strongest protections for ticket buyers.

Stephen Parker, executive director of NIVA, said that

bill is "the most fan- and artist-friendly ticketing legislation

that Congress has ever introduced."

"It makes illegal the abusive, predatory behaviour from

predatory resale platforms and ticket brokers," he said, and

also calls for a national evaluation of the ticket resale

market.