WASHINGTON D.C. (CelebrityAccess) — Ticketmaster faced renewed questions over its business practices after fans faced frustrating delays and sky-high secondary market prices while attempting to purchase tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras tour this week.
In a letter to Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment on Thursday, U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, (D. Mich.) Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, raised “serious concerns” about the sale process and its impact on consumers.
“I write to express serious concerns about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful impact on consumers. Reports about system failures, increasing fees, and complaints of conduct that violate the consent decree Ticketmaster is under suggest that Ticketmaster continues to abuse its market positions,” Klobuchar wrote in an open letter to Live Nation President and CEO Michael Rapino.
“Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services. That can result in the types of dramatic service failures we saw this week, where consumers are the ones that pay the price,” Klobuchar continued.
In the letter, Sen. Klobuchar raised multiple questions regarding the on sale, demanding answers from Live Nation by November 23, 2022. Senator Klobuchar also reminded the company that they are still subject to a consent decree from Ticketmaster’s 2011 merger with Live Nation and she raised concerns about the company’s compliance with that agreement.
In her letter, Senator Klobuchar questioned how much Ticketmaster has invested in infrastructure upgrades and the nature of improvements, how actively the company’s board of directors is provided with updates on Live Nation’s efforts to remain compliant with the consent decree and recent complaints about non-compliance.
She also questioned the company’s confidence that its plan to develop an “easy-access, one-stop platform” is working.
Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Senator Klobuchar’s request but in the wake of the Taylor Swift ticketing turmoil, the company launched a frequently asked questions page, addressing the on-sale.
