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The Associated Press is offering video of the following Democratic U.S. senators commenting on Tuesday's hearing examining Ticketmaster’s dominance in the ticketing industry. Use it on your broadcasts, websites, social media platforms and elsewhere.
ILLINOIS: Sen. Dick Durbin
MINNESOTA: Sen. Amy Klobuchar
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Dem Senators question Ticketmaster and free market
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Senators grill Ticketmaster after Taylor Swift fiasco
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Senators grilled Ticketmaster Tuesday, questioning whether the company’s dominance in the ticketing industry led to its spectacular breakdown last year during a sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets.
In mid-November, Ticketmaster’s site crashed during a presale event for Swift’s upcoming stadium tour. The company said its site was overwhelmed by both fans and bot attacks. Many people lost tickets after waiting for hours in an online queue.
Ticketmaster is the world’s largest ticket seller, processing 500 million tickets each year in more than 30 countries. Around 70% of tickets for major concert venues in the U.S. are sold through Ticketmaster, according to data in a federal lawsuit filed by consumers last year.
Prior to the hearing, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-MN, said the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing was being held to educate the senators but also because the public had a right to know what was going on.
“There’s a government accountability report that shows that 27% of the ticket price is fees. And there’s some of the tickets have been shown to be up to 75% fees. That’s outrageous. And that’s what happens when you have one entity, which is Ticketmaster Live Nation, that has 70% of the big ticket market, that has the promotion, which is Live Nation and then also owns a bunch of the venues. And for the venues they don’t own, they get three to five to seven years in terms of exclusive deals coming out,” Klobuchar said.
Senator Dick Durbin, D-IL, said he was glad the Senate Judiciary Committee has the jurisdictional responsibility to look at the issue of antitrust and competition.
“If you want to have real business practices and the strength of the free market system, you need competition. And when you have a monopoly circumstance, it lessens competition, raises prices and diminishes the development of the company,” Durbin said.
