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The U.S. Senate will not permit Ticketmaster to destroy your spirit.
After Beyoncé announced her world tour, the Senate Judiciary Committee issued a stern and threatening warning to Ticketmaster.
The committee’s account responded sarcastically to Ticketmaster’s post about people preparing for a potential ticket-buying disaster by tweeting, “We’re watching.”
Senators recently attacked Live Nation, the parent firm of Ticketmaster, during a hearing over the debacle surrounding ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, arguing that Ticketmaster has monopolized the sector since its 2010 merger with LiveNation.
Due to bugs and unclear restrictions about pre-sale access, millions of fans waited for hours in line for the tour’s pre-sale, only to leave empty-handed. Ticketmaster ultimately canceled the general sale due to “unprecedented demand,” as stated by the company.
More than 3.5 million fans registered as “Verified Fans” for the pre-sale, which set a new record for the corporation.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) stated during the hearing, “This whole concert ticket system is a monopolistic mess.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar stated, “I believe in capitalism, and to have a strong capitalist system, you must have competition” (D-Minn.). As a nod to Taylor Swift, I will add that, regrettably for this country, we are “All Too Well” acquainted with the necessity of consolidation.
Joe Berchtold, the head of Live Nation, acknowledged that Ticketmaster could “do better” but denied that it was a monopoly.
Through its merger with LiveNation, Ticketmaster now owns around 200 major performance venues in the United States.
According to a federal complaint brought by ticket-buyers last year, the corporation also sells over 70% of tickets for all major venues, primarily through exclusive contracts, and processes 500 million ticket transactions annually in more than 30 countries.
The anticipated demand for Beyonce’s Renaissance World Tour is exceptionally strong.
This week, Live Nation informed fans via email that pre-sale registrations “already exceed the number of available tickets by more than 800%” in several cities.
The email states, “It is anticipated that a large number of interested fans may not be able to obtain tickets because demand greatly exceeds supply.”
New dates in major cities have already been added to the tour, including an extra performance at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Ticketmaster claims they are altering the procedure this time by staggering sales and utilizing Verified Fan technology, which was previously employed for Swift’s tour, in an effort to prevent the virtual queue from becoming stopped and fans from losing their place in line.
The Beyhive will have to compete for tickets on several dates due to the revised sales timetable.
»Senate tells Ticketmaster: ‘We’re watching’ Beyoncé ticket sales after Taylor Swift fiasco«