Senators question Ticketmaster’s market power following Taylor Swift sale chaos – By Patrick Hilsman & Kate Walter (UPI) and Jacob Wendler (Medill News Service) / Jan 24, 2023
WASHINGTON, Jan. 24 (UPI) — Ticketmaster was hit by a flood of attempts to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, and its website faced outages and caused long wait times, Live Nation Entertainment CFO Joe Berchtold told a congressional subcommittee Tuesday.
The company said its system suffered delays due to “historically unprecedented demand,” receiving over 3.5 billion system requests that caused the site to crash for hours. Secondary ticketing platforms listed some tickets for Swift’s tour for five-figure prices.
Berchtold delivered his remarks in a hearing dubbed “That’s the Ticket; Promoting Competition and Protecting Customers In Live Entertainment,” aimed at examining a “lack of competition in the ticketing industry” after the 2010 merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster to form Live Nation Entertainment.
Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mike Lee. R-Utah, the chairwoman and ranking member, respectively. of the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights, called the hearing after Ticketmaster’s website failed when presale tickets for Swift’s tour went on sale.
CONTINUE > https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/01/24/senate-hearing-ticketmaster-taylor-swift/5741674569943/
