Taylor Swift poses on the red carpet for the 2022 MTV Europe Music Awards at the PSD Bank Dome in Duesseldorf, Germany, November 13, 2022. REUTERS/Thilo Schmuelgen/File Photo
NEW YORK, Nov 18 - Ticketmaster has a pretty bad seat for the Taylor Swift show. The company owned by $17 billion Live Nation Entertainmentto hawk general admission to the pop star’s “Eras” tour – her first in five years – after a surge in pre-sale demand crashed its systems. The mess has attracted an audience of lawmakers booing Live Nation’s market power. It also risks tempting Swift to turn the spotlight on Ticketmaster.
In 2010, U.S. trustbusters allowed Ticketmaster to merge with Live Nation and create one of the largest event businesses in the world. It attached certain conditions banning the company from pushing venues around, but the Department of Justice said in 2019 that Live Nation broke its promises. Legislators including Minnesota Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar are pushing for an encore review of the deal.
Can we get over this please?