TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Kate Prince on Jan 24, 2023

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee grilled Ticketmaster and its parent company LiveNation during a hearing on competition in the live entertainment industry. The meeting comes after the debacle caused by the company’s handling of ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour. Senators were critical of Ticketmaster’s “monopolistic control” of the concert ticket system and questioned the Department of Justice’s enforcement of antitrust laws. LiveNation’s CFO argued that “the ticketing business has never been more competitive” and said the problem with Swift ticket sales was due to an unprecendented wave of bots targeting the sale website. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tennessee, grilled the company on whether it had done enough to identify and stop bots. The Tennessean has the story.