Senate Antitrust Panel To Hold Hearing On Ticketmaster Debacle

On Tuesday, Senator Amy Klobuchar said her Senate antitrust panel will hold a hearing on the lack of competition in the ticketing industry after Ticketmaster’s problems last week managing the sale of Taylor Swift 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,” 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.”

Related: DOJ Opens Antitrust Probe Into Ticketmaster

Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee said the disastrous presale for Swift’s “The Eras Tour” highlighted problems with consolidation and the lack of incentive for Ticketmaster, which merged with Live Nation in 2010 to dominate the market, to provide better services.

Taylor Swift on Friday said it was “excruciating” for her to watch fans struggle to secure tickets and that she had been assured that Ticketmaster could handle large demand, reported Reuters. After technical issues caused long queues, freezing pages and presale delays on the site, Ticketmaster eventually canceled the public sale for the tour.

Klobuchar was one of three lawmakers who argued in a letter on Monday that Ticketmaster and owner Live Nation Entertainment, the events ticketing giant behind the recently botched sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets, should be broken up by the Department of Justice if any misconduct is found in an ongoing investigation.

“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,” she said.