Ticketmaster has called on Congress to take measures on ticket scalping as the Taylor Swift scandal highlighted the music industry's ticket problem.
Some Congress members believe the company itself is the main issue.
- Live Nation Entertainment was founded in 2010 after the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
- The company has been criticized by music industry experts, music fans, and legislators for conducting suspicious activities that could be categorized as anticompetitive practices.
- Yesterday, Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked that the DOJ investigates Live Nation and Ticketmaster for possible anticompetitive conduct.
- According to them, the founder and CEO of Seat Geek testified that Ticketmaster uses extended exclusive agreements with venues that could last up to 10 years.
- The two legislators added that they asked Live Nation if it would be willing to have a third party audit it, but the company refused.
- Live Nation had $16B in revenue in 2022 and has over 12,000 employees.
- Destiny's Child manager Mathew Knowles sued Live Nation in 2011, claiming that the company had spread false information about his business dealings with his daughter, Beyoncé.
