Colorado Independent Venue Association President and National Independent Venue Association Advocacy & Policy Leader to Testify Before U.S. Senate
Independent Venue Leader David Weingarden Will Testify on Deceptive Ticket Resale Practices, Bots, Hidden Fees, and the Impact of Industry Consolidation on Fans, Artists, Venues and Local Music Economies
WHAT:
U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy, will convene a hearing titled “Fees Rolled on All Summer Long: Examining the Live Entertainment Industry.” During the hearing, independent venue leader David Weingarden will testify on behalf of the Colorado Independent Venue Association (CIVA) and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), addressing how speculative ticketing, resale price gouging, hidden fees, and bot-driven sales undermine consumer trust, inflate ticket prices, and threaten the sustainability of independent venues and artists.
WHEN:
Wednesday, January 28, 2026 - 2:30 PM ET / 11:30 AM PT
WHERE:
Committee Hearing Room, Russell 253
Livestream available on the Committee website and YouTube
WHO:
David Weingarden, Chair & Co-Founder, Colorado Independent Venue Association (CIVA) and Vice President for Concerts & Events at Z2 Entertainment
Robert Ritchie “Kid Rock”, Entertainer
Brian Berry, Executive Director, Ticket Policy Forum
Dan Wall, Executive Vice President of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs, Live Nation Entertainment
KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM WEINGARDEN’S WRITTEN TESTIMONY:
On fans being misled and overcharged: “Fans are being systematically steered into the resale market, where they are overcharged, misled, and frequently sold tickets that do not exist.”
The rise of ‘ghost tickets’: “These are really non-existent ghost tickets. They’re actually not tickets at all. The seller doesn’t have the ticket when they sell it. Fans are led to believe they are buying a real seat, but they’re just paying for a promise that someone might try to find a ticket later.”
Limits on deceptive resale practices: “Congress should also ban resale before the public on sale and prohibit deceptive URLs and spoof websites that impersonate official venue box office.”
Impact on independent venues: “When something goes wrong with these fake and overcharged tickets, fans don’t blame the scalper who sold it to them from a basement halfway across the country. They blame the venues. They come to our box offices angry and confused when their ticket doesn’t scan or when they realize they wildly overpaid. Our staff is the only face they see, so we take the hit. We get the bad reviews, and it is our reputation that is damaged.”
Industry consolidation: “Live Nation doesn’t just sell tickets. It controls the choke points that determine who gets access to tickets at all. And when one company controls ticketing, artist management, promotion, venue ownership, and resale, it has the ability to shape the market in ways that no independent venue, artist, or fan can counter on their own. From where I sit as a venue operator, Live Nation is not adjacent to these problems. It is part of the structure that allows them to persist.”
Closing message: “Every fake ticket, every hidden fee, every mandated transfer or inflated resale is not just a flaw in the system. It reflects a system built to serve profit, not the people. But artists should be able to control how their tickets are sold. Fans should be able to trust the platforms they use. And independent venues should not have to fight for survival while others make billions off of their risk.”
