Live Nation, Ticketmaster Monopoly Breakup Could Help Concert Problem: Expert

Ever since Ticketmaster's disastrous presale ticket sale of the Taylor Swift "The Eras" Tour, Swifties and congressmen from The Hill had been on a non-stop roll on determining the issues that led to the massive mishap.

Hours-long of virtual queues and several server crashes took place during the Ticketmaster presale, sparking a national debate and a senate inquiry on the Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster monopoly.

Earlier this week, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights finally started the hearing for the long standing antitrust claims against Ticketmaster, titled "That's The Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment."

Led by committee co-chairmen Minnesota Congresswoman Amy Klobuchar and Utah Congressman Mike Lee, the two started the week-long session on investigating the infamous Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger.

It was inspired by the Taylor Swift "The Eras" Tour presale debacle, which had congressmen quoting Taylor Swift lyrics during the plenary session.

"I believe in capitalism and to have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition. Klobuchar said in her opening statement. You can't have too much consolidation. Something that unfortunately for this country as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say we know all too well."

However, Variety noted that the senate committee does not possess the power to rollback the Live Nation and Ticketmaster merger that anyone hopes, but it could put pressure on the Department of Justice, who actually has the jurisdiction.

Klobuchar spoke to the publication after Tuesday's hearing and revealed some pretty significant realizations.

"I thought it went very well - nearly everyone was prepared, which helps, and I think that the witnesses made their cases strongly but not really rudely. They were aggressive a few times, but they weren't trying to do a "gotcha" with the witnesses." the senator said, referring to the start of the investigation.

Meanwhile, when she was asked if the breakup of the two massive entities (Live Nation and Ticketmaster) could solve the problem - Klobuchar had this to say:

"I think it would be very helpful. But it would depend on how the whole thing is structured," she pointed out before emphasizing that if the Ticketmaster was offloaded, the possibility of another competition surviving and expanding would take place.

Tags

Ticketmaster, Taylor Swift