Congress to Hold Hearing on Ticketmaster After Taylor Swift Botch Job
VIGILANTE SH*T
Time to face the music. A U.S. Senate antitrust panel is set to assess the potential lack of competition in the market that led to widespread glitches and service outages on Ticketmaster earlier this month as Taylor Swift fans tried desperately to snag tickets for her upcoming tour. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights will hold a hearing on the ticketing industry, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Lee (R-UT) said this week. “Last week, the competition problem in ticketing markets was made painfully obvious when Ticketmaster’s website failed hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to purchase concert tickets,” Klobuchar said in a statement. “The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve.” Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, has repeatedly denied allegations of antitrust violations, blaming the crashes and lags on a “staggering number of bot attacks” and fans attempting to access the presale without access codes.