A Senate antitrust panel will hold a hearing to examine the lack of competition in the ticketing industry after Ticketmaster’s problems in managing the sale of Taylor Swift tickets.
Significant service failures and delays on Ticketmaster’s website last week left fans unable to purchase concert tickets.
Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) is the Chairwoman and Mike Lee (R-UT) is the Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights.
“Last week, the competition problem in ticketing markets was made painfully obvious when Ticketmaster’s website failed hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to purchase concert tickets,” said Klobuchar. “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.”
“That’s why we will hold a hearing on how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike. When there is no competition to incentivize better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences,” she added.
“American consumers deserve the benefit of competition in every market, from grocery chains to concert venues,” said Lee. “I look forward to exercising our Subcommittee’s oversight authority to ensure that anticompetitive mergers and exclusionary conduct are not crippling an entertainment industry already struggling to recover from pandemic lockdowns.”
Last week, Klobuchar wrote a letter to Ticketmaster expressing concern about the lack of competition in the ticketing industry and questioning whether the company is taking necessary steps to provide the best service it can to consumers.
Klobuchar and Lee said the hearing date and witnesses will be announced later.
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