Congress intensify their fight v. Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment (fiber), after last month Taylor Swift fails to release tickets.
On Tuesday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote a letter Addressed to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapinoe. It requested a summary of the Live Nation ticketing process for Swift’s “Eras” tour, as well as a list of actions the company has taken since then to ensure consumers have better access to live entertainment.
The letter also asked Rapino to schedule a briefing no later than December 15.
“The recent pre-sale ticketing process for Taylor Swift’s upcoming IRAs tour — during which millions of fans have suffered delays, closures and competition with aggressive scammers, scalpers and bots — raises concerns about unfair and deceptive practices facing consumers and event-goers,” the letter read, necessitated Added more information regarding Ticketmaster’s Certified Fan program, along with its handling of bots, hidden fees, dynamic pricing, and more.
The committee letter comes next New York times It reported that the Department of Justice had opened an antitrust investigation into the company. Live Nation did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance’s request for comment.
Ticketmaster canceled general ticket sales shortly after the pre-sale debacle. Swift influenced the situation, saying it was “painful” To watch mistakes happen.
Shares of Live Nation are at their lowest since February 2021 in the aftermath of the disaster and initial public outcry. The stock is down more than 40% since the start of the year.
part of the solution
Some analysts have argued for an antitrust investigation into Live Nation Not necessarily fairYahoo Finance previously told that Ticketmaster tried to solve a big problem in the live events industry – the unregulated secondary ticket market.
“Live Nation and Ticketmaster have become a kind of corporate punching bag, but I really think Ticketmaster is part of the solution — it’s not part of the problem,” Douglas Arthur, an analyst at Huber Research Partners, told Yahoo Finance.
Arthur added, “The secondary market is the Wild West, and it’s unregulated… Fans pay too much and the artist doesn’t make any use of the royalties.”
According to Ticketmaster, the platform has sold more than 2 million tickets through the pre-show – the most ever for an artist in a single day. The company also indicated that each ticket sold to a purchaser with a verified fan code.
Arthur said any possible untangling between the two companies would be incredibly complex after the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010.
“It’s going to be a very complicated and long period with a lot of lawsuits. And I’m not sure the end result will be any better either,” he said. In the end, “This [Taylor Swift] A one-time situation for me. The demand was through the roof – they misjudged it, but this is a one-time event.
Alexandra is the chief media and entertainment correspondent for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter aliecanal8193 and email it to [email protected]
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