​In a White House meeting that can only be described as peak 2025, President Donald Trump met with Kid Rock and addressed the Oval Office press about the pervasive issue of ticket scalping and fans being exploited through inflated concert ticket prices.​

Kid Rock was introduced (Trump calls him Bob, real name Bob Ritchie), and spoke on the ticket scalping issue, sounding grateful for the executive order, though it's unclear what effect it will actually have without any new laws being signed. The order aims to enforce current laws, such as the Better Online Ticket Sales Act of 2016 signed by President Barack Obama.

According to Whitehouse.gov:

• The Order directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to:
  • Work with the Attorney General to ensure that competition laws are appropriately enforced in the concert and entertainment industry.
• Rigorously enforce the Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act and promote its enforcement by state consumer protection authorities.
• Ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market.
• Evaluate and, if appropriate, take enforcement action to prevent unfair, deceptive, and anti-competitive conduct in the secondary ticketing market.

The Order directs the Secretary of the Treasury and Attorney General to ensure that ticket scalpers are operating in full compliance with the Internal Revenue Code and other applicable law.

Treasury, the Department of Justice, and the FTC will also deliver a report within 180 days summarizing actions taken to address the issue of unfair practices in the live concert and entertainment industry and recommend additional regulations or legislation needed to protect consumers in this industry.

Kid Rock said:

"Anyone who's bought a concert ticket in the last decade, maybe 20 years, no matter what your politics are, knows it is a conundrum. You buy a ticket for $100. By the time you check out, it's $170."​

He explained how automated bots contribute to the issue:​

"These bots, they come in to get all the good tickets to your favorite shows... and then they're relisted immediately for sometimes a four or five hundred percent markup. And the artists don't see any of that money."​

Kid Rock proposed considering legislative measures to cap resale prices, noting:​

"They've tried this in some places in Europe, and it seems to be the only thing that us as artists [can do to] be able to get the tickets into the hands of the fans at the prices we set."​

He then spoke about his own earnings:​

"I'll be the first one to say... I'm a little overpaid right now. It's ridiculous. I would rather be a hero to working-class people and have them be able to come attend my shows and give them a fair ticket price."​

Trump agreed:​

"I think Bob is more interested in the fans and the people that are happy to pay crazy prices than he is the artist. Maybe the artist a little bit, but the fans a lot. I've spoken to him over the years about it, and it bothers him. It bothers a lot of other artists, too. It does. The artist, and they go out with a $100 ticket and it sells for $2,000 the following night. And [scalpers] seem to be able to sweep up the best locations, too, which is pretty amazing."​

The discussion also touched on the enforcement of existing laws.

Kid Rock pointed out:​

"They've only enforced that bot act one time, I believe. A couple of years ago, New York City... got a couple of million dollar fine. And that's the only time they have enforced that act."​

Addressing the role of ticketing companies, Kid Rock criticized their profit motives:​

"If Ticketmaster sells a ticket... they make 17, whatever percentage every time that ticket resells. So they don't want to enforce the bot act necessarily because they're making more money off it. The artists don't see any of that money."​

He emphasized the broader impact on fans:​

"I know people that... decide on a family vacation or going to their favorite concert once a year... My parents used to go see multiple shows when you could afford them back in their day."​

They may not be the champions we asked for, but raising the issue seems like a win for live music fans. Given all the corporate knee bending to the White House these days, maybe Ticketmaster and other power players will actually listen? Or it could all just be marketing.

Honestly, it's getting hard to parse legitimate meaning from real world events in this utterly confusing and bizarre timeline we are currently living through. Just watch the video below and draw your own conclusions.