Company has been under fire for its practices

Live Nation and Ticketmaster are responding publicly to this month’s Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing that discussed monopolistic practices in the live entertainment industry. In December of last year, Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota promised to hold the hearing at the start of this congress. This, in response to the disaster that was the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster on sale, that saw millions of fans locked out and bots make billions of attempts on Ticketmaster’s servers.

On Thursday (Feb 23rd), Ticketmaster shared, “If there’s any chance of improving ticketing for fans and artists, we all need to focus on the facts. In the last few weeks alone, we’ve submitted more than 35 pages of information to provide greater context and transparency to policymakers on the realities of the industry. We believe that policymakers would benefit from asking more questions about the chaos caused by scalpers and the resale-first side of the industry. We remain committed to working with lawmakers on developing reforms that will benefit fans and artists including those outlined in a FAIR Ticketing Act.”

In its FAIR Ticketing Act, Live Nation Entertainment states that “Fans mean everything to artists, and the best way to ensure a fair ticketing experience for live music fans is to put more control in the hands of the artists themselves.”

The company outlines a variety of topics that they claim hurts the live entertainment industry, including that “Artists should decide resale rules” by protecting “artists’ ability to use face-value exchanges and limited transfer to keep pricing lower for fans, and prevent scalpers from exploiting fans.”

Live Nation’s statement also says that the government should “make it illegal to sell speculative tickets. Scalpers use deceptive tactics to trick fans into spending more or buying tickets the seller doesn’t even have – this confuses fans and should be banned.”

The company wants to see policymakers “expand the scope of the Bots Act and increase enforcement to deter those who break the law, cheating artists and fans in the process.”

Live Nation also claims that lawmakers should “crack down on resales sites that are safe havens for scalpers.” Live Nation claims “Resale sites that turn a blind eye to illegally acquired tickets, allow ticket speculation, and ignore artists’ rules need real consequences from policymakers to curb their bad behavior.”

Another topic they support is mandating an all-in pricing strategy nationwide. “Avoid surprises at check out and give fans the ability to easily compare prices as they shop by mandating all-in pricing that shows the full out of pocket cost of the ticket and fees right upfront.”

Live Nation says, “We already follow many of these common sense policies and are ready to make additional changes, but we can’t do it alone. We need the entire industry and policymakers to stand up for fans and artists. Advocating for fair ticketing policies has never been more important because artists are actively losing their ability to control their tickets in states all over the country – which is hurting fans, and helping scalpers.”

Illinois, Colorado, Connecticut, New York, Virginia and Utah have already passed legislation protecting resale. California, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey and Washington state are already considering new laws for reselling tickets.

Live Nation states that “Scalper lobbyists use terms like ‘fan freedom’ to sound like they are looking out for consumers – but unlimited resale protects scalpers more than fans. Programs like fan-to-fan face value exchanges are designed specifically to ensure fans still have maximum flexibility when buying tickets, but tickets stay at prices artists set. Runaway resale laws make programs like this illegal.”

The company says the only way to “truly protect consumers” is by having Congress enact “a federal law that backstops artist’s ability to control their tickets. Together, we can create a fair system that benefits everyone.”

On Wednesday (Feb 22nd), Senators Klobuchar and Mike Lee sent evidence from the recent hearing to the Department of Justice asking them to continue examining Live Nation and Ticketmaster. In their bipartisan letter, the Senate Judiciary Committee states, “For too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have wielded monopoly power anticompetitively, harming fans and artists alike.”

They continue, “As an initial matter, other than Live Nation’s executive, every witness at our hearing testified that Live Nation is harming America’s music industry.”

They detail their findings in the letter before concluding, “Live Nation’s responses amount to ‘trust us.’ We believe that is wholly insufficient. We thank you for your prompt attention to these matters and encourage the Antitrust Division to take action if it finds that Ticketmaster has walled itself off from competitive pressure at the expense of the industry and fans.”