Get your tickets to see Ticketmaster on Capitol Hill! The U.S. Senate Antitrust Panel will hold a hearing regarding Ticketmaster, Live Nation and the lack of competition within the industry.
The congressional hearing was triggered by the recent sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming “Eras” tour. In mid-November, fans around the world attempted to grab tickets to one of Swift’s 52 shows in 2023. Unfortunately, many fans were met with high prices, long wait times and temporary outages. Ultimately, the ticket service was forced to halt its scheduled general sale on November 18.
“The Eras on sale made one thing clear: Taylor Swift is an unstoppable force and continues to set records,” Ticketmaster stated.
Frustrations regarding Ticketmaster are not limited to the sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets. Many critics have raised issues with the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Essentially, many feel that the consolidation of the two companies essentially rooted out all competition within the industry and led to many of the problems seen recently. Now, Congress is stepping in.
“Last week, the competition problem in ticketing markets was made painfully obvious when Ticketmaster’s website failed hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to purchase concert tickets. The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve,” U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar said.
“That’s why we will hold a hearing on how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike. When there is no competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences.”
