Today marked the start of the Senate hearing triggered by the Ticketmaster sale fiasco for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. The discussions largely center on how Ticketmaster handled the sale of the pop star’s stadium tour and the debate over the monopoly of the ticketing industry following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010. Present at the hearing were the chairman and chief financial officer of Live Nation. , and while admitting what happened was bad, he also defended Ticketmaster, arguing that the ticketing industry has bigger problems.
During the hearing, Joe Berchtold apologized to fans and acknowledged the poor customer experience. He also pointed to issues with bots and ticket scalping. He said in the hearing, go Deadline :
We apologize to the fans. Apologies to Taylor Swift. We have to do better and we will do better.
For context, Ticketmaster crashed multiple times during the presale and fans waited hours just to get access to the seating plan. After the presale fiasco, Ticketmaster cancels public sale . Taylor Swift addressed the issue , where he expressed his frustration with the situation. Weather Ticketmaster apologized for the inconvenience and some fans managed to get tickets after the presale, there are still many without tickets and some he went out of his way to join the Eras Tour . Also, some fans were so furious that they decided sues Ticketmaster over presale debacle .
All of this led to the Senate getting involved and holding a hearing on the sale and general issue of Ticketmaster sales. Swift and the Swifties weren’t the first or the last singers and fans to have this issue with the ticketing company.
Berchtold said the company was sorry for anything that went wrong with the sale of the Eras Tour and explained, via NYT :
This has led to a terrible consumer experience, which we deeply regret.
Berchtold also explained during the hearing that Live Nation is “best in class,” according to the NYT. However, he also pointed out that there are problems with the ticketing industry in general. He explained that the bot attacks were one of the reasons the sale went so badly, saying that with “hindsight” they could have “done better.”
Furthermore, Berchtold explained that the way to solve the biggest problem of fines is through Congress. He acknowledged the problem with selling Swift and later said that part of the solution was the creation of legislation by the federal government. While many senators and witnesses questioned the merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the company’s chief financial officer said it has “lost, not gained, market share” since 2010 (via Deadline).
Live Nation’s president and chief financial officer defended the company, saying there was “industrial scale ticket scalping” and that ticket prices were not set by Ticketmaster, but by the artist. However, according to Deadline, there has been criticism that the company adds extremely high fees during a sale.
Representatives from companies such as Seat Geek, which is one of Ticketmaster’s competitors, and Jam Productions, an independent producer of live entertainment, were present to testify at the hearing. Jerry Mickelson, CEO of Jam Productions, called out Ticketmaster, especially the sale of Swift, saying it signaled a bigger problem, according to the NYT. He explained that it’s “amazing” that a company like Ticketmaster can’t handle bots and that there’s “more to this story” that still needs to be told.
Both Republicans and Democrats spoke out against Ticketmaster at the hearing. This is a bipartisan issue, as he noted through Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut NYT :
I want to congratulate and thank you for an absolutely incredible achievement: you have united Republicans and Democrats in an absolutely unified cause.
From the Republican Party, Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana explained that what happened when Swift was sold “was a debacle.” Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, also said she couldn’t understand why Ticketmaster hasn’t “developed an algorithm” to distinguish between bots and customers. In general, both parties were frustrated with what had happened with Ticketmaster.
The hearing is over for today and there is currently no resolution. The Eras tour is next List of upcoming Swift projects It will be interesting to see what comes out of this audience and if it affects ticket sales going forward, both for the midnight singer and other artists.
Source: Cinemablend
