Texas No Longer Regulates Talent Agencies
Effective September 1, 2011, the Texas Legislature repealed Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 2105, and removed registration requirements for, and the authority to regulate talent agencies. The supporters of repealing the code section made the following comments in legislative hearings:
It is inefficient and unnecessary to continue the state licensing of talent agencies ..... The number of licensees ... is so small that there is no benefit to the consumer to continue regulation by TDLR. The Deceptive Trade Practices Act would provide sufficient protections to consumers who could be harmed ....
Talent agencies originally were regulated to protect actors from fraudulent agents. However, there is widespread activity by unregulated parties that offer similar services, and the regulations are easily circumvented, rendering them ineffective.
Those that wished to keep the regulation in place stated:
Regulation of talent agencies originally was enacted to ensure that actors were not swindled by talent agents who would take money in exchange for future services and then disappear and also to protect legitimate talent agencies. If there is widespread activity by unregulated parties, the bill should address better regulation, instead of removing it completely.
The Texas Talent Agencies Act only regulated securing business for models and actors. It did not regulate the securing of gigs for musicians.
