Senator Richard Blumenthal once again quoted Taylor Swift – this time during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Ticketmaster’s alleged monopoly of the live music industry with its Live Nation merger. Blumenthal was one of the few senators to quote Swift during the hearing, which included testimony from witnesses like Live Nation chairman and chief financial officer Joe Berchtold.
“Ticketmaster had the temerity to insinuate that the debacle involved in ticket presales was Taylor Swift’s fault because she wasn’t doing too many shows,” Blumenthal said during the hearing. “And may I suggest respectively that Ticketmaster should look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem. It’s me. “”The quote comes from Swift’s 2022 hit song “Anti-hero.”
Berchtold insisted that the use of ticketing bots was to blame for the website not functioning properly during the sale. The chief financial officer said the “cyberattacks” caused the increase in traffic on the site.
Frustration over the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger reached a boiling point in November when Ticketmaster crashed over the number of users trying to use the site to buy tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour. Politicians have taken to social media to criticize Ticketmaster’s failure to go on sale and how their practices have harmed the live entertainment industry.
“Taylor Swift’s tour sale is a perfect example of how the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger harms consumers by creating a virtual monopoly,” tweeted Blumenthal in November. “I have long urged the DOJ to investigate the state of competition in the ticketing industry. Consumers deserve better than this anti-hero behavior.”
In an earlier statement to Hearst Connecticut Media, Blumenthal reiterated his frustration with Ticketmaster’s ticketing practices.
“I have repeatedly urged the Department of Justice to investigate the state of competition in the ticketing industry for live entertainment. American consumers are faced with skyrocketing ticket prices, to opaque terms, exorbitant fees, and a lack of alternatives when it comes to where and how they can buy tickets to events,” Blumenthal told Hearst Connecticut. “I remain deeply concerned about the impacts Live Nation/Ticketmaster will merge and will continue to fight for consumer choice and fairness in the ticketing industry.
Blumenthal has a long history of battling the competitive live entertainment and concert ticketing market. In March, Blumenthal released a joint statement with Senator Amy Klobuchar asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger and their updated consent decree. The two live entertainment companies merged in 2010 and have since been accused of raising concert ticket prices and fees and aggressive takeovers from potential competitors.
