The Ticketmaster website crash amid inflated demand for Taylor Swift tickets has sparked a Senate hearing as lawmakers use the incident to probe a variety of business practices in the ticketing industry.
The full Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for next Tuesday – That’s the ticket: promoting competition and protecting consumers in live entertainment – after the November debacle that saw Swift fan pre-sales sell out and a public sale cancelled.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the chair of the Antitrust Subcommittee, said in a statement that “problems in the American ticketing industry became painfully clear when Ticketmaster’s website began promoting hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to get tickets for the new tour for sale . by taylor swift let you down. , but these problems aren’t new. For too long, consumers have had to deal with high fares, long wait times and website outages, and Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company hasn’t had enough pressure to innovate and improve.”
Shortly after the site crash, Klobuchar wrote a letter to Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino in November, citing “serious concerns about competition in the ticketing industry and its adverse impact on consumers.” The Justice Department reportedly launched an investigation into Live Nation ticketmasters before the incident. It is unclear whether Rapino will be present as a witness at the hearing. Jane Meyer, Klobuchar’s communications director, said the witness lineup will be announced later this week.
Live Nation has defended its business practices. In a detailed statement released in November, the company said: “Ticketmaster has a significant share of the primary ticketing services market due to the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the second best primary ticket system. However, the market is becoming increasingly competitive with competitors making aggressive bids for venues. Ticketmaster’s continued leadership in such an environment is a testament to the platform and those who operate it, not anti-competitive business practices.”
The company also noted that it operates under the terms of the 2011 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster under a consent decree. It was extended in 2019 in a deal with the Justice Department, with the company noting that a former federal judge oversees compliance.
Author: Ted Johnson
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
