We knew she was trouble when she walked in…Ticketmaster, Live Nation, and Taylor Swift are now at the center of a senate hearing due to the singer’s latest tour proving to be an absolute nightmare to get tickets to, as hours-plus-long queues and system outages locked out even her most die-hard fans–like, the ones who sat through Cats.
Hearings began this week, with the debacle over Taylor Swift and her Eras tour–the U.S. leg launches in March–serving as a major catalyst. However, it’s obviously not Swift coming under fire but rather the practices allegedly promoted by Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Due to the extremely high demand–Swift reportedly sold more tickets in one day than anyone else in music history (although we’re not expecting her directorial debut to smash many records)–the Ticketmaster public sale was canceled, an unprecedented move that left countless Taylor Swift fans having to skip the tour and shake it off. Live Nation has blamed cyberattacks.
Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is one key member leading the hearing, blasted Live Nation as a monopoly, saying, “We have talked to many venues, some of which aren’t willing to come forward, unlike one of them that is here today, but that say even if they’re not out there threatening them, they’re afraid to go to someone else, because then they’re not going to get the acts that they want. This is all a definition of monopoly because Live Nation is so powerful that it doesn’t even need to exert pressure, it doesn’t need to threaten, because people just fall in line.” In other words, Live Nation has zero legitimate competitors.
At the time of the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster sale, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino said, “We invited a million and a half on that day to come and buy those tickets, but it’s kind of like having a party. Everybody crashed that door at the same time with 3.5 billion requests.”
In the meantime, those who couldn’t get their Taylor Swift tickets on Ticketmaster last November can expect to spend hundreds more than face value, as obviously, scalping is almost synonymous with concerts nowadays.
What do you think of Ticketmater’s practices, especially relating to Taylor Swift’s tour? Do you believe they have a monopoly on the industry? Let us know your take in the comments section below!