Let me catch you up quickly if you are not sure why this trial is very prominent in pop culture. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour had a great amount of demand which left many fans complaining as there was no public sale because tickets sold out quickly. This has been a reoccurring pattern for many artists’ tours such as Harry Styles and Bad Bunny. Plenty of fans were left devastated, but this was not a surprise to many as people had been questioning Ticketmaster’s motives behind their prices and additional fees. Senators came together for this case as they claim that Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, is a monopoly.
On Jan. 24, a three-hour hearing was held to discuss the legalities of this case with Live Nation and the United States Senate. One of the main claims made within the case by Joe Berchtold, the chief financial officer (CFO) of Live Nation, was that the main reason the general public sale had to be canceled was because of bots. Berchtold stated that the ticket sale was “hit with three times the amount of bot traffic than we had ever experienced” in abundance to the high demand Swift’s tickets already had. Ticketmaster also claims that the abundance of fans on the site and the largest number of bots on the site as well caused them to slow down sales which ultimately led to them canceling the general public sale. The CFO claims that Ticketmaster regrets that decision as it left consumers upset.
A Taylor Swift fan claimed “Ticketmaster’s ticketing system failed fans of Taylor Swift by not giving equal chance to everyone in search of tickets. Instead, demand was not met even remotely when it had been promised to be an organized sales process for all.” Fans’ uproar is what ultimately led this case to be handled by the Senate. The Senate was also questioning the costs of the tickets and the additional fees that increased over the years. Berchtold defended the prices by saying that most of the time ticket prices and fees are determined by the venues and not by Ticketmaster. The Senate and plenty of other entertainment businesses believe that Live Nation has too much dominance over the entertainment industry. Jack Groetzinger, the CEO of SeatGeek, another ticket-selling sight, claims that “this power over the entire live entertainment industry allows Live Nation to maintain its monopolistic influence over the primary ticketing market.” Artists on the witness panel also agreed with the CEO and were aware that the merging between Live Nation and Ticketmaster would cause a potential monopoly because of the lack of competitors.
This trial went viral because throughout the hearing Senators began quoting Taylor Swift lyrics and song titles against Ticketmaster. Senator Klobuchar during her speech said, “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.’” She mentioned “All Too Well” which is a significant song in Taylor Swift’s discography. Also, Senator Lee quoted one of “Blank Space’s” most iconic lyrics “nightmare dressed like a daydream” when speaking about ticket resellers. These are just some examples of the comical ways the U.S. Senate targeted Live Nation Entertainment. This caused many Taylor Swift fans to have mixed reactions on social media.
Many fans were praising the Senate because they were holding Ticketmaster accountable, but many did not view them using Swift’s lyrics like that. This trial was one of the first times in a while that both political parties came together in agreeance against Ticketmaster. So many fans believed certain politicians that have had previous controversies tried to use this case to their advantage to regain the trust of young voters. This is a known tactic that has been previously used. Even with the controversy behind it the Senators still have plenty of the media and fans talking about this possible monopoly case.
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