US politicians have announced they will investigate Ticketmaster’s dominance after the company flew into a rage over Taylor Swift’s handling of sales for her highly anticipated tour.
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee said the competition subcommittee will examine the “lack of competition in the ticketing industry.”
Ms Klobuchar said the high fees, problems with Ticketmaster’s website and the cancellation showed it was “not under any pressure to continue to innovate and improve”.
Swift said last week it was “excruciating” See what people go through when buying tickets for her upcoming US show — her first tour since 2018.
Fans said they waited hours and were kicked off the site multiple times on Thursday, with Ticketmaster canceling Friday’s sale due to “unusually high demand” and “insufficient” tickets.
The issues come days after the site crashed again due to high demand during the presale.
Ticketmaster said more than 3.5 million people have registered for the general sale and plans to allow 1.5 million to participate while the rest are on a waiting list.
However, it said “bots” — automated requests — and the demands of those who hadn’t previously registered had flooded its site with 3.5 billion system requests — four times the previous peak.
“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we’ve asked them multiple times if they can handle the demand and we’re sure they can,” fast Say it on Instagram.
She said she was “p***** off” and was working on how to improve.
For years, Ticketmaster, which dominates the U.S. ticketing industry, has frustrated fans and artists with hidden fees, skyrocketing costs and a limited supply of tickets due to advance sales.
Ms Klobuchar wrote to the company’s bosses last week and suggested Ticketmaster and sister company LiveNation – which promotes events and operates venues – were abusing their positions and insulated themselves from typical competition in other industries.
She and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah raised the stakes Tuesday by announcing plans for the special hearing.
“When there is no competition to incentivize better service and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences,” said Ms. Klobuchar, who leads the Senate competition and consumer rights subcommittee.
“U.S. consumers deserve to benefit from competition in every market, from grocery chains to concert venues,” Mr Lee added.
Hearing dates and witnesses are still to be confirmed.