Swiftie fury at Ticketmaster prompts congressional responses
As the debacle over Ticketmaster's bungled handling of ticket presales for Taylor Swift's "Eras" tour continues this week, Swifties across the country can take heart that their frustration has not gone unnoticed by those in a position to actually do something about it: members of Congress.
The uproar from one of pop music's most rabidly dedicated fandoms over the ticket distribution giant's choppy rollout for Swift's upcoming tour has led lawmakers from the House and Senate to chime in. They've used the occasion to point out Ticketmaster's near-total dominance in its field, and the regulatory failings they claim contributed to the Swift sale meltdown.
As several of the lawmakers noted in their statements, Ticketmaster's 2010 merger with Live Nation created what's been frequently regarded as a monopoly over the entertainment industry wherein it now serves as the sole sales platform for many live events. In a class action suit filed against the company in early 2022, Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment is described as a "monster" that "must be stopped," and which has acted against earlier court settlements while making it exorbitantly difficult for other vendors to compete in the ticket sales market.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Swifties are hardly the first fandom to go after Ticketmaster for its grip on ticket distribution. Between 1994 and 1995, Pearl Jam led fans in a 14-month boycott of the company, only to partner with Ticketmaster two decades later during their 2018 North American tour.
As Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) noted in a follow-up tweet to his initial Swiftie complaint, he and several other Democratic lawmakers have a standing call for the Justice Department to investigate Ticketmaster and its parent company for "efforts to jack up prices and strangle competition."
-
Metal-based compounds may be the future of antibioticsUnder the radar Robots can help develop them
-
Europe’s apples are peppered with toxic pesticidesUnder the Radar Campaign groups say existing EU regulations don’t account for risk of ‘cocktail effect’
-
Political cartoons for February 1Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Tom Homan's offer, the Fox News filter, and more
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
Can anyone stop Donald Trump?Today's Big Question US president ‘no longer cares what anybody thinks’ so how to counter his global strongman stance?
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
