US appeals court rejects Live Nation antitrust lawsuit

Entertainment giant Live Nation has avoided an antitrust lawsuit accusing it and Ticketmaster of exploiting its market power, and forcing inflated prices on fans.  The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit yesterday (Monday) upheld a previous ruling and rejected a class-action lawsuit, as fans and concertgoers forfeited their right to sue when purchasing …

Senate Judiciary Committee warns Ticketmaster ahead of Beyoncé presales

Ticketmaster will be hoping to avoid a repeat of the Taylor Swift incident when tickets for Beyoncé’s first solo tour in six years go on sale in the US later today.  The Live Nation-owned platform has already said that registration demand for Group A – which covers concerts in nine US cities – was eight …

US lawmakers and stakeholders lambast Live Nation-Ticketmaster

Live Nation Entertainment president and chief financial officer Joe Berchtold was backed into a corner by sharp criticism of the concert promoter and its subsidiary Ticketmaster from all quarters during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, DC yesterday. Lawmakers and representatives of a rival operator, promoter, think tank and band lined up to pillory …

Ticketmaster to blame cyberattack, witnesses revealed for hearing 

Ticketmaster is set to blame a cyberattack in November for the problems encountered by fans attempting to purchase tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour.  According to a report from Politico, president and chief financial officer of Live Nation – Ticketmaster’s parent company – Joe Berchtold will tell today’s antitrust hearing that the ticketing platform was …

Senators reveal date for ticketing competition hearing

US Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee – Chairwoman and Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust and Consumer Rights – have revealed that the hearing on the lack of competition within the ticketing industry will be held on January 24.  The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing will be titled ‘That’s The …

2022 in review – November

The month of November saw Ticketmaster come under fire for its handling of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket pre-sale. The platform was unable to deal with the amount of traffic despite the company using its Verified Fan scheme. It subsequently cancelled the general onsale and had to resort to using Ticketstoday to sell the …

Ticketmaster sued by another group of Taylor Swift fans

Ticketmaster has been sued by more Taylor Swift fans over the singer’s Eras Tour ticketing fiasco last month.  A further group of Swift fans have come together to sue Ticketmaster, after an original group of fans sued the ticketing platform earlier in December.  In November, those wanting to purchase Eras Tour tickets in the Verified …

Ticketmaster outlines remaining Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticketing plans

Ticketmaster has revealed its plans to sell the remaining Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets.  According to a report from Billboard, the Live Nation-owned ticketing company will use an older fan club ticketing system to sell the remaining 170,000 tickets. This system reportedly takes the queue out of the process. The move comes after Ticketmaster was …

Taylor Swift fans offered second chance to purchase Eras Tour tickets

Taylor Swift fans have been given a second chance to secure tickets for the singer’s Eras Tour, with reports of those having signed up to Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan programme receiving notifications that tickets are available.  Billboard has reported that users of the Verified Fan programme – which is Ticketmaster’s attempt at squeezing out bots and …

Lawmakers demand answers over Taylor Swift Eras tour ticketing

US lawmakers have penned a letter to Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapino to discuss Ticketmaster’s ticketing process for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote to Rapino earlier this week to clarify the ticketing process for the tour, and provide details on how the company will make sure consumers will …