In Europe, when the consumer is harmed, the state pulls out its claws and protects it. In the United States, the universal fairness of the markets and free competition are trusted to put an end to the ordeal, because the consumer can always take his money elsewhere. Only when that is not possible does the government take action, prepared to do everything possible to allow free competition to prevail. That’s where the United States Senate is.
On Tuesday, the Judiciary Committee held a hearing that benched top executives at ticketing service Ticketmaster and promoter Live Nation for frustrating followers of singer Taylor Swift, who unsuccessfully tried to buy a concert last November. tickets for his new tour, Eras Tour. “We can do better and we will,” they promised, blaming the bots that massively attacked their website to buy tickets to resell. “Amazing! So you didn’t generate an algorithm that can distinguish between bots and consumers who actually want to buy a ticket?” asked Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn indignantly.
The executives defended themselves by assuring they were getting three times as many bot attacks as they expected, but the senators didn’t care about the technical cause of the fiasco. Most importantly, it had brought to light the conditions faced by both musicians and consumers in the face of the monopoly created since 2010 by the merger of Ticketmaster and the concert promoter Live Nation. According to them, this group controls between 70 and 80% of the country’s concert halls, a figure that Ticketmaster lowers to 5%. Independent venues that do not accept ticket sales through Ticketmaster will be excluded from the tour. The same thing happens with musicians, exploited by these intermediaries. Clyde Lawrence, a member of a New York group that bears his last name, stated that his band only takes $6 for a $42 ticket, which is split among 8 musicians after taxes. “The truth is there is no other option,” concluded Senator Amy Klobuchar. “This is the definition of a monopoly.”
The Ministry of Justice itself released a report in 2019 that repeated the many complaints over the years. Yet he took no action to correct it. It follows from the outcry of the senators and the protests that took place in the streets at that hour that the committee could even recommend breaking that diabolical merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation, but would still have to show that its executives have made threats and coercive practices used against musicians and venues to enforce their services. Something that may not be difficult to prove, but was not seen at Tuesday’s hearing.
Source: La Verdad
I am David Jackson, a highly experienced professional in the news industry. I have been working as an author at Today Times Live for over 10 years, and specialize in covering the entertainment section. My expertise lies in writing engaging stories that capture readers’ attention and deliver timely information about the latest developments.
