Posted on 11/18/2022 9:30:11 AM PST by ButThreeLeftsDo
MINNEAPOLIS -- Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she would call a Senate hearing to probe Ticketmaster after the Taylor Swift ticket fiasco this week left many fans frustrated and empty handed.
This comes as the company canceled the general public sale of tickets originally scheduled for Friday "due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand." Swift fans sought tickets earlier this week with pre-sale codes and credit card exclusives, a rollout that was beset by technical problems.
Klobuchar, who chairs a Senate subcommittee focused on consumer protection and anti-trust, said she also wants the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate. She already sent a letter to CEO of Ticketmaster expressing "serious concerns about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful impact on consumers," and seeking answers to direct questions about its operations.
She believes the company, which is the product of a merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation a decade ago, is too big and too powerful.
"There just has to be consequences for this kind of behavior," Klobuchar told WCCO. "Because unlike competitive markets, where you just go down the street if you don't like one store, you go to this store, you go to this grocery store -- you don't have that choice here."
(Excerpt) Read more at cbsnews.com ...
I know this is a silly thing for congress to investigate but don’t underestimate how powerful of a figure Taylor Swift is with legions of fans. She just needs to say “Vote for the child sniffing chomo Joe Biden” and poof millions will vote. So Amy taking this on makes political sense. The democrats are EXPERTS at manipulating the empty headed pop culture fans.
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
Who the hell cares?
not all American’s, just 14 million of them
12 million upset American’s is a lot isn’t it?
TicketMaster has so many "early access" exclusive offerings for getting certain credit cards, for buying certain products, for banking at certain institutions, that these exclusives are the majority now and are no longer exclusive.
Add to the mix the preferential treatment that after-market resellers get (like Stubhub) and there is very little product left for the incidental consumer.
Note how frequent flyer redemption supply is limited, top-tier loyalty levels for cruise lines are becoming top-heavy and amenities are being scaled back for cost reasons, etc.
-PJ
Actually, this is a perfect example, and there are many, of things that used to work right that are now broken.
Ticketmaster crashes trying to sell Taylor Swift tickets? Good grief! It's not like Taylor Swift is the first artist to ever go on a tour of 70,000 seat football stadiums!
The Stones, The Who, Zeppelin, Springsteen, Michael Jackson, multiple festivals and on and on. As a modern society, we've been handling stadium tours for nearly years now just fine!
Nothing works right anymore. And it's not just Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is only the latest example of failure and incompetence in systems that used to function seamlessly.
It was part of the allure of bands like The Who and The Stones.
See my post above this one.
Ticketmaster crashes trying to sell Taylor Swift tickets.
How the hell does that happen? It's not like Swift is the first artist to go on stadium tours.
Why does nothing work right anymore?
I can’t remember the last time I went to a concert. Might have been the 90’s
+👍🏼
Taylor Swift doesn't need Ticketmaster to hype her concert.
Her "Eras" tour was on track to be the biggest musical tour since the turn of the millennium. Swift was already adding shows. And she's playing 70,000 seat football stadiums.
Ticketmaster has been given the monopolistic power to sell concert tickets. This is their only job and they are failing.
The biggest concert tour of over the past twenty years is on the verge of being cancelled because Ticketmaster can longer perform the one task that they were created to do.
The good news is these people do not have to listen to Taylor Swift sing using autotune.
Oh for heaven’s sake...
Klobuchar is just signaling that she can be as weak-minded and superficial as Harris, something heretofore viewed as impossible. Watch for Kamala to counter by demanding the FBI investigate what Diddy-Wa-Diddy mean.
Ticket master might as well be Dominion. It’s all by design.
Unbelievable...
But let libs eat libs...
Nothing works right anymore. And it’s not just Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster is only the latest example of failure and incompetence in systems that used to function seamlessly.
You nailed it. This is the Age of Biden. Everything is costly (if you can get it). Shortages of basic commodities, supply chain problems, shipping losses or delays, Poorer quality, bad or incompetent services.
I'm serious!
Thirty years ago, you could go to McDonald's and order a Quarter Pounder, fries, and a milk shake.
Today, the milkshake machine is broken. There's no change. Nobody showed up to work so the wait is 17 minutes. And they still get your order wrong.
Make it a stern letter…lol.
Many moons ago, we were lined up at a Ticketron outlet for hours (when they sold them in record stores). We sat there and watched as they snuck all their friends to the front of the line to snag the best tix.
Hated them ever since.
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