WASHINGTON (Reuters) – After Taylor Swift’s ticket sales debacle, U.S. senators criticized Live Nation Entertainment’s lack of transparency and its inability to block bots from buying tickets. condemned.
Live Nation Entertainment Co., Ltd. (LYV.N) Subsidiary Ticketmaster, which has been unpopular with fans for years, drew renewed heat from U.S. lawmakers over how it handled ticket sales last fall for Swift’s first “Eras” tour in five years. Ticketmaster has over 70% market share in primary ticketing services for major concert venues in the United States, according to experts.
Live Nation president and chief financial officer Joe Burchtold told a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, “I apologize to the fans and I apologize to Ms. Swift. We need to do better.” There is, and I intend to do better,” he said.
“In hindsight, there are some things that could have been done better, like staggering sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job of setting fan expectations for getting tickets. am.
Republican Senator Mike Lee said in his opening statement that Ticketmaster’s failure is important for considering “whether new laws, or better enforcement of existing laws, are needed to protect the American people.” He said he emphasized sexuality.
lack of competition
The senator accused Berchtold of failing to deal with Live Nation’s pricing structure and bots buying tickets in bulk and reselling them at high prices.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar responded to Burchtold’s claim that Live Nation’s fees fluctuate based on “ratings,” saying, “If no one knows who sets the fees, there is no transparency.” said.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn called Live Nation’s bot problem “incredible” and noted that much smaller companies can limit bad actors in their systems.
“You should be able to get good advice from people and figure it out,” she said.
[1/2] Taylor Swift arrives at the 2022 MTV Video Music Awards at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, USA on August 28, 2022. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
Republican Senator John Kennedy noted Live Nation’s dominance in the ticketing market, stating, “I’m not against Big per se, but I’m against fools. “The way your company handled Ms. Swift’s ticket sales was a fiasco and whoever was in charge of it at your company should be fired.
“If you care about the consumer, lower your prices! Stop the bots! Stop the middlemen. If you really care about the consumer, put the consumer to rest!”
Jack Groetzinger, co-founder of ticketing platform SeatGeek, testified that the ticket-purchasing process was “outdated and ripe for innovation” and called for a split between Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which merged in 2010. .
“As long as Live Nation remains both the nation’s leading concert promoter and ticket seller, the industry will continue to lack competition and struggle,” he told lawmakers.
Ticketmaster claims the bots used by scalpers were behind the Taylor Swift debacle, and Berchtold has asked for more help to fight bots that buy tickets for resale.
Other witnesses include Jerry Mickelson, president of JAM Productions and one of Ticketmaster’s critics.
In November, Ticketmaster canceled a planned public ticket sale for Swift’s tour after over 3.5 billion requests from fans, bots and scalpers overwhelmed its website.
Senator Klobuchar, who heads the Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Committee, said the problems that emerged in November were not new and could stem from consolidation in the ticket industry.
In November, Ticketmaster denied its anti-competitive practices and noted that it remained under a consent decree with the Department of Justice after its merger with Live Nation in 2010, stating that it had “provided evidence of systematic violations of the consent decree.” ‘ added that there is none.
A previous dispute between Ticketmaster and the Justice Department culminated in a settlement in December 2019, extending the consent agreement through 2025.
Reported by Diane Bartz, Moira Warburton, and David Shepardson.Editing by Jonathan Ortiz
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