“May I suggest, respectfully, that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem, it’s me,’” Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal said.
on Tuesday to determine whether Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, wields a monopoly over the concert-going industry and should be dismantled.
“The fans had to sign up through a Verified Fan [service] to even buy a ticket,” Mickelson said. “Ticketmaster knew the demand was enormous, larger than most any other show. When they set the tickets up for sale, there’s two ways you can do that. Set the tickets up so that they are best available, which means that you’ll sell more tickets because the fans don’t have a choice, or pick-a-seat, where it slows the process down.
Antitrust complaints against Ticketmaster have been going on long before the company cancelled its main sale for Swift tickets last year, resulting in hundreds of thousands of snubbed fans—Pearl Jam. And Ticketmaster’s monopoly in the concert industry has faced scrutiny dating back to its 2010 merger with Live Nation Entertainment, which stamped out Live Nation as its main competitor.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn expressed frustration that Live Nation evidently wasn’t handling bots with more skill. “This is unbelievable,”Other issues that were brought up during the hearing had to do with purchasing event tickets, such as massive hidden fees of up to 82 percent on top of ticket prices, as well as speculative ticket sales, in which resellers sell tickets that they technically don’t have yet to secondary buyers at hugely inflated sums.
Ireland Latest News, Ireland Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Live Nation CFO defends Ticketmaster, blames bots for Taylor Swift debacleTicketmaster learned 'valuable lessons' when the Taylor Swift concert tickets sale last year was disrupted by record bot traffic, the parent company will tell a U.S. Senate committee on Tuesday.
Read more »
Taylor Swift Ticketmaster crisis sparks Senate Judiciary hearing, Live Nation and SeatGeek called as witnessesSenators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee will lead Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on competition in ticketing industry with witnesses from major agencies.
Read more »
Ticketmaster Hearing: Witnesses Push Break-Up of Live Nation During Senate Probe on Taylor Swift PresaleSeatGeek CEO Jack Groetzinger called to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing following the TaylorSwift ticket debacle.
Read more »
Watch Live: Senators grill Live Nation leader over Taylor Swift ticketing fiascoTicketmaster will testify publicly for the first time since the concert promoter's highly publicized meltdown late last year during ticket sales for Taylor Swift's 'Eras' tour.
Read more »
LIVE: Senate holds hearing on Ticketmaster’s dominance in the ticketing industry — 01/24/23The Senate Judiciary Committee holds a hearing examining the lack of competition in the ticketing industry titled “That’s the Ticket: Promoting Competition a...
Read more »