A US Senate antitrust panel will conduct a hearing on the lack of competition in the USA’s ticketing industry after Ticketmaster’s issues last week, with managing the sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets.
Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, has blamed the presale issues for Taylor Swift’s concert, which is her first US tour in five years, on the unprecedented demand for the tickets. After the fans that were already registered struggled with glitches for hours to get tickets in the presale, and tickets rapidly began appearing for resale, and Ticketmaster has also cancelled ticket sales to the general public.
Ticketmaster later claimed the demand for the concert tickets could have filled around 900 stadiums. Taylor Swift said that it was excruciating to watch her fans struggling to secure tickets and she had also been assured that Ticketmaster could handle the demand.
The chaos has attracted the attention of US politicians, and most of them have voiced concerns about how Ticketmaster has become after the company merged with the entertainment company Live Nation in 2010.
Jonathan Skrmetti, attorney general of Tennessee, said that he will launch a consumer protection investigation into the company after his announcement was bombarded with complaints from Taylor Swift fans.
The US senator Amy Klobuchar, who will chair the senate panel, announced the US Senate hearing would be continued, and they have yet to provide a date, with a list of witnesses.
