A key senator is accusing Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, of obstructing a congressional investigation into its consumer practices — and issuing a subpoena to compel information from the company.
"Live Nation has egregiously stonewalled my Subcommittee’s inquiry into its abusive consumer practices — making the subpoena necessary," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who chairs the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations for the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Live Nation, which owns a large number of music venues around the country in addition to the controversial ticket-booking service, has been accused of anti-consumer and anti-competitive behavior for years, including extremely high transaction fees, manipulating resale markets to cause artificial scarcities, and strongarming artists and performers who don't want to price tickets under their terms.
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"Despite nearly eight months and extensive efforts to obtain voluntary compliance, Live Nation/Ticketmaster has failed to fully comply with PSI’s requests, including refusing to produce certain documents critical to the Subcommittee’s inquiry," stated Blumenthal in a letter to Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino. "Furthermore, the Subcommittee has identified additional categories of documents necessary to complete its inquiry."
"As a result, the enclosed subpoena also seeks records related to Live Nation/Ticketmaster’s failure to combat artificially inflated demand fueled by bots in multiple, high-profile incidents, which resulted in consumers being charged exorbitant ticket prices," the letter continued.
Public anger over Live Nation and Ticketmaster exploded onto the political stage after their policies contributed to an artificial scarcity of tickets for pop singer Taylor Swift's recent tour, which left some "Swifties" paying up to 70 times face value to get admission. Even an anti-capitalism book tour by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) saw Ticketmaster charging $95 per ticket in fees.
The Biden administration has since threatened to file an antitrust lawsuit against the company, as part of their broader war against so-called "junk fees." However, a number of corporate special interests, including those which profit off their own exorbitant fees like cable companies and casinos, have poured millions into a lobbying effort to kill further regulation.