Taylor Swift Ticket Snafu Caused By Ticketmaster Abusing Market Power Senate President Says

  Sen. Amy Klobuchar slammed Ticketmaster in an open letter to its CEO, saying she has “serious concerns” about the company’s operations after a service outage on Tuesday left Taylor Swift fans outraged.   

  In the letter to CEO Michael Rapino, Democrat of Minnesota and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, wrote that complaints from Swift fans were unable to purchase tickets to the her upcoming tour, in addition to the criticism of high fees, suggests that the company “continues to abuse its positions in the market”.   

  “Ticketmaster’s strength in the mainstream ticketing market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services.  This can lead to the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones paying the price,” Klobuchar wrote.   

  Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the nation’s largest concert promoter, merged about a decade ago.  Klobuchar noted that the company at the time was committed to “developing an easy-to-access, one-stop platform” for ticket delivery.  On Thursday, the senator told Rapinoe that “it appears your trust was misplaced.”   

  “When Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010, it was subject to an antitrust consent decree that prohibited it from abusing its market position,” Klobuchar wrote.  “However, there have been numerous complaints regarding your company’s compliance with this ordinance.”   

  The letter includes a list of questions that Rapinoe will answer by next week.  Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.   

  On Tuesday, the company said there had been “historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up” for tickets to Swift’s tour and thanked fans for their “patience”.   

  Klobuchar is the latest high-profile politician to openly criticize Ticketmaster over the ticket debacle that has left bad blood between Swift fans and the company.   

  “@Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and charges are completely unacceptable as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets and are symptomatic of a bigger problem.  It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unregulated monopoly,” Rep. David Cicilline, currently chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee, tweeted Tuesday.   

  “Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, their merger with LiveNation should never have been approved and they need to be reined in,” spokeswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.   

  Complaints about the company’s monopoly power date back well before Tuesday’s ticket problems, when the platform appeared to crash or freeze during pre-sale purchases for Swift’s latest tour.   

  In 1994, when Taylor Swift was just four years old and ticket-buying lines were in person or over the phone, not online, the rock band Pearl Jam filed a complaint with the Justice Department’s antitrust division alleging that Ticketmaster has “a near-absolute monopoly on distribution concert tickets”.  He tried to close his tour to only venues that didn’t use Ticketmaster.   

  The Justice Department and many state attorneys general have made similar complaints over the years.   

  Despite these concerns, Ticketmaster continued to become more dominant.  Pearl Jam’s complaint was quietly dismissed.  The Justice Department and states allowed the Live Nation Ticketmaster merger, despite a 2010 court filing challenging the merger.  In the filing, the Justice Department said Ticketmaster’s share among major concert venues exceeded 80 percent.   

  – CNN Business’ Chris Isidore contributed to this report.   

title: “Taylor Swift Ticket Snafu Caused By Ticketmaster Abusing Market Power Senate President Says " ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Gregory Lowe”

  Sen. Amy Klobuchar slammed Ticketmaster in an open letter to its CEO, saying she has “serious concerns” about the company’s operations after a service outage on Tuesday left Taylor Swift fans outraged.   

  In the letter to CEO Michael Rapino, Democrat of Minnesota and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, wrote that complaints from Swift fans were unable to purchase tickets to the her upcoming tour, in addition to the criticism of high fees, suggests that the company “continues to abuse its positions in the market”.   

  “Ticketmaster’s strength in the mainstream ticketing market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services.  This can lead to the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones paying the price,” Klobuchar wrote.   

  Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the nation’s largest concert promoter, merged about a decade ago.  Klobuchar noted that the company at the time was committed to “developing an easy-to-access, one-stop platform” for ticket delivery.  On Thursday, the senator told Rapinoe that “it appears your trust was misplaced.”   

  “When Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010, it was subject to an antitrust consent decree that prohibited it from abusing its market position,” Klobuchar wrote.  “However, there have been numerous complaints regarding your company’s compliance with this ordinance.”   

  The letter includes a list of questions that Rapinoe will answer by next week.  Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNN Business.   

  On Tuesday, the company said there had been “historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up” for tickets to Swift’s tour and thanked fans for their “patience”.   

  Klobuchar is the latest high-profile politician to openly criticize Ticketmaster over the ticket debacle that has left bad blood between Swift fans and the company.   

  “@Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and charges are completely unacceptable as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets and are symptomatic of a bigger problem.  It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unregulated monopoly,” Rep. David Cicilline, currently chairman of the Antitrust Subcommittee, tweeted Tuesday.   

  “Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, their merger with LiveNation should never have been approved and they need to be reined in,” spokeswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez tweeted.   

  Complaints about the company’s monopoly power date back well before Tuesday’s ticket problems, when the platform appeared to crash or freeze during pre-sale purchases for Swift’s latest tour.   

  In 1994, when Taylor Swift was just four years old and ticket-buying lines were in person or over the phone, not online, the rock band Pearl Jam filed a complaint with the Justice Department’s antitrust division alleging that Ticketmaster has “a near-absolute monopoly on distribution concert tickets”.  He tried to close his tour to only venues that didn’t use Ticketmaster.   

  The Justice Department and many state attorneys general have made similar complaints over the years.   

  Despite these concerns, Ticketmaster continued to become more dominant.  Pearl Jam’s complaint was quietly dismissed.  The Justice Department and states allowed the Live Nation Ticketmaster merger, despite a 2010 court filing challenging the merger.  In the filing, the Justice Department said Ticketmaster’s share among major concert venues exceeded 80 percent.   

  – CNN Business’ Chris Isidore contributed to this report.