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Senator Amy Klobuchar criticizes Ticketmaster In an open letter to the CEO, She says she has “serious concerns” about the company’s future operations. service collapse The Tuesday that made Taylor Swift fans outraged.
In a letter to CEO Michael Rapino, a Minnesota Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, Swift’s fans complained to her In addition to criticism of the inability to purchase tickets for future tours of abuse one’s market position”
“Ticketmaster’s power in the primary ticket market shields the company from competitive pressures to innovate and improve its services. It can happen,” wrote Klobuchar.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation, the nation’s largest concert promoter, merged about ten years ago. Klobuchar said the company pledged at the time to “develop an easily accessible, one-stop platform” for ticket distribution. “It looks like your confidence was misplaced,” the senator told Rapino on Thursday.
“When Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010, the company was subject to an antitrust consent decree prohibiting it from abusing its market position,” wrote Klobuchar. “Nevertheless, we have received many complaints about your company’s compliance with the law.”
This letter contains a list of questions that Rapino will answer by next week. Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to CNN Business’s request for comment.
On Tuesday, the company said there was “historically unprecedented demand and millions turned up” to buy tickets for Swift’s tour, thanking fans for their “patience”.
Klobuchar is the latest prominent politician to speak out Criticize Ticketmaster For a ticketing disaster that left a vicious cycle between Swift’s fans and the company.
“@Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and fees, as seen in today’s @taylorswift13 ticket, are completely unacceptable and a symptom of a bigger problem. That Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked exclusive It’s common knowledge,” Rep. David Cicilline, who currently chairs the Antitrust Subcommittee, tweeted on Tuesday.
“A daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly and a merger with LiveNation should never be approved and should be regulated,” tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Complaints about the company’s monopoly power predate Tuesday’s ticket issue. That’s when the platform appeared to crash or freeze during pre-sale purchases of Swift’s latest tour.
1994, when Taylor Swift was just four Rock group Pearl Jam has filed a complaint with the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division, claiming that Ticketmaster has a “virtually complete monopoly over the distribution of concert tickets.” I have tried to book a tour only at venues that do not use Ticketmaster.
The Justice Department and many state attorneys general have filed similar complaints over the years.
Despite these concerns, Ticketmaster continues to become more and more dominant. Pearl Jam’s appeal was quietly dismissed. The Department of Justice and states allowed the Live Nation Ticketmaster merger despite filing a court challenge to the merger in 2010. In a filing, the Justice Department said Ticketmaster’s share of major concert venues exceeded 80%.
– Chris Isidore of CNN Business contributed to this report.