Live Nation president apologizes for Taylor Swift ticket debacle, defends Ticketmaster competition during Senate hearing

Ticketmaster’s failure to sell Taylor Swift tickets last year led to a high-profile Senate hearing Tuesday, where a top executive at parent company Live Nation Entertainment apologized for the debacle while defending industry competition.

Joe Berchtold, president and chief financial officer of Live Nation Entertainment, told the Senate Judiciary Committee: “We apologize to the fans. We apologize to Taylor Swift. we must do better and we will do better.”

He blamed a bot attack and promised to work with senators to address operational issues.

But lawmakers are questioning Live Nation Entertainment’s compliance with a consent decree governing its 2011 merger with Ticketmaster, a combination that unified advertising, venue and ticketing and raising concerns that the company will use its market power to… to fend off competition from rivals to suppress.

During the packed hearing in one of the largest congressional hearing rooms in the Hart Office Building, several senators cited reports that the Justice Department had opened a new investigation into Live Nation-Ticketmaster’s business practices.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), chair of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee, said that “Live Nation is so powerful that it doesn’t even have to push” to use Ticketmaster services, arguing that companies withdraw Fear ” adjusted” would have retaliation from Live Nation.

She said the result was rising ticket prices and “the experience of live events has become increasingly out of reach for so many fans”.

Advance sales were denied to Fast Fans, and a public sale was canceled in November. Klobuchar argued that the ticket debacle was related to a lack of competition in the industry.

“As millions of fans discovered last fall, there are few consequences for not serving,” she said.

In his speech, Berchtold said Ticketmaster had “lost, not gained, market share” since the merger, referring to the competition on the secondary ticket market. However, he acknowledged that there are market issues, including “scalping on an industrial scale,” that need to be addressed. He also argued that ticket prices were not set by Ticketmaster but by the artist, but critics disputed the service fee charged on sales. Berchtold said the fees will be determined by the sites. Live Nation owns about 200 of the 4,000 live venues in the U.S., he said.

But Klobuchar later questioned the idea that there was stiff competition at the company. She pointed to a statistic that 87% of Billboard’s list of top artist tours were provided by Ticketmaster.

“I just want to take away the idea that it’s not a monopoly and we can find solutions out of that,” she said.

Before the hearing, a group of Taylor Swift fans held a protest on the Capitol grounds.

There is more to come.