Taylor Swift‘s ticketing fiasco might be the straw that breaks Ticketmaster‘s back, but Swifties aren’t the only fans affected by the company’s stranglehold on tickets. In 2010, Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster, creating a monopoly that, 13 years later, is preventing many fans from seeing their favorite artists in concert.
On January 24, U.S. senators held a hearing to discuss ticket buyers’ ongoing struggles with bots, scalpers, and sky-high prices, demanding answers from Live Nation Entertainment. During the pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, her first tour in five years, Ticketmaster crashed multiple times, leaving many outraged fans without tickets. Public sale days were later canceled.
At the hearing, Live Nation’s president Joe Berchtold said, “We apologize to the fans, we apologize to Ms. Swift, we need to do better, and we will do better.” As Senator Amy Klobuchar pointed out, however, the Eras Tour disaster isn’t an isolated incident.
From Taylor Swift to Springsteen to BTS, the lack of competition in the ticketing industry causes problems for fans and artists alike. We’re holding a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on these issues to find solutions. Tune in: https://t.co/r0KdeZTEbQ
— Senator Amy Klobuchar (@SenAmyKlobuchar) January 24, 2023
At the hearing, she named Taylor Swift, BTS, Bruce Springsteen, and Bad Bunny as artists whose fans are affected by Ticketmaster’s poor management and lack of transparency.
Sen. Klobuchar describes the problem and says it’s not just T. Swift, going on to mention BTS, Bad Bunny (and a few others but the clip was getting too long). I’m telling you, @TMTaskForce, you did good.
pic.twitter.com/3QHMSNfKzu
— Neighbor ARMY (@NeighborARMY_) January 24, 2023
Although Ticketmaster has apologized to customers, as of now, it’s unclear how or when current practices will change for the better. Read more about the Ticketmaster investigation here:
An Upcoming Investigation Into Ticketmaster And Live Nation Could Affect K-Pop Concert Ticket Sales
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