A United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee convened on Tuesday to discuss Ticketmaster and its hold over the ticket sales industry. Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee took lead on the investigation which asked questions about ticket sales, monopolization, resale markets, and more.
"To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition," Sen. Amy Klobuchar said. "You can't have too much consolidation — something that, unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say, we know 'all too well.'"
Sen. Richard Blumenthal told Live Nation's CFO, "Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror, and say, 'I’m the problem, it's me'"
Criticism of Ticketmaster and Live Nation came from both sides of the aisle.
“I am not against big, per say. I am against dumb,” Republican Sen. John Kennedy told a Live Nation executive. “The way your company handled ticket sales for Ms. Swift was a debacle.”
Senators have mentioned a number of ticket sales for high-profile musicians during the hearing. Among them are Bruce Springsteen, Bruno Mars, Prince, Bad Bunny, Madonna, and more.
Perhaps the most important name mentioned was Taylor Swift. It was the complete failure of Ticketmaster to handle the sales of her Eras Tour that inspired the Senate investigation.
“The solutions are there for the taking,” Klobuchar said near the end of the hearing.
[Via]
