Live Nation Entertainment issued a lengthy defense of its ticketing giant subsidary Ticketmaster in the wake of the platform’s tech meltdown against the feverish demand for Taylor Swift‘s upcoming The Eras tour dates.
Shares of Live Nation Entertainment took a big hit Friday amid reports that the Justice Department was looking into widespread complaints over how Ticketmaster’s platform botched the pre-sale auction and other aspects of the first-day rush to buy tickets to Taylor Swift’s jaunt that begins March 18 in at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz.
Live Nation saw its shares drop nearly 8% in trading Friday, closing at $66.21, as anecdotal reports spread of fans facing technical nightmares in trying to get into queues for a shot at buying ducats for Swift’s hotly sought-after The Eras tours. Ticketmaster’s advance pre-sale registration system was so overloaded as to malfunction. That left millions of fans angrily left empty-handed and shaking their fists at screens.
Swift shared her anger at the situation as well, telling fans via Instagram that she was upset that her fans faced so many hurdles and headaches.
“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,” Swift wrote.
Swift did not call out Live Nation or Ticketmaster by name. But she indicated that her team inquired in advance of the sale if “they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.”
On Friday evening, Live Nation issued an impassioned defense of the much-maligned Ticketmaster with a long statement asserting that the platform was “the most transparent and fan-friendly” service of its kind available. And the company emphasized that it has invested in technology that has made app-based ticketing the norm not the exception these days.
“Ticketmaster has a significant share of the primary ticketing services market because of the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the next best primary ticketing system. The market is increasingly competitive nonetheless, with rivals making aggressive offers to venues. That Ticketmaster continues to be the leader in such an environment is a testament to the platform and those who operate it, not to any anticompetitive business practices. 5 years ago tickets were paper, now you scan in with your phone, and can transfer tickets to your friend with one tap. We innovate and invest in our technology more than any other ticketing company, and we will continue to do so,” Live Nation wrote (full statement below).
The highly public Swift debacle appears to have come as the Justice Department was already beginning to probe whether Live Nation has too much control of the live music marketplace given its prominence as a promoter of events and its dominance of ticketing via Ticketmaster.
Ticketmaster has long faced criticism and scrutiny of its business practices and the fees added on to each transaction. In the 1990s, the service had a long-running feud with Pearl Jam over the issue of pricing and fees.
Here is Live Nation’s full statement:
As we have stated many times in the past, Live Nation takes its responsibilities under the antitrust laws seriously and does not engage in behaviors that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices.
The concert promotion business is highly competitive, with artist management in control of selecting their promoting team. The demand for live entertainment continues to grow, and there are more promoters than ever working with artists to help them connect with fans through live shows. The Department of Justice itself recognized the competitive nature of the concert promotion business at the time of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger. That dynamic has not changed.
Ticketmaster has a significant share of the primary ticketing services market because of the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the next best primary ticketing system. The market is increasingly competitive nonetheless, with rivals making aggressive offers to venues. That Ticketmaster continues to be the leader in such an environment is a testament to the platform and those who operate it, not to any anticompetitive business practices. 5 years ago tickets were paper, now you scan in with your phone, and can transfer tickets to your friend with one tap. We innovate and invest in our technology more than any other ticketing company, and we will continue to do so.
Secondary ticketing is extremely competitive, with Ticketmaster competing with StubHub, SeatGeek, Vivid and many others. No serious argument can be made that Ticketmaster has the kind of market position in secondary ticketing that supports antitrust claims.
For the past 12 years Live Nation has operated under a Consent Decree that among other things seeks to prevent anticompetitive leveraging of Live Nation promoted content to advantage Ticketmaster. Pursuant to the Amended Decree voluntarily entered in 2020, Live Nation’s compliance is monitored by a former federal judge. There never has been and is not now any evidence of systemic violations of the Consent Decree. It remains against Live Nation policy to threaten venues that they won’t get Live Nation shows if they do not use Ticketmaster, and Live Nation does not re-route content as retaliation for a lost ticketing deal.
Ticketmaster is also the most transparent and fan-friendly ticketing system in the United States. Ticketmaster does not set or control ticket prices, strongly advocates for all-in pricing so that fans are not surprised by what tickets really cost, and is the undisputed market leader in ticket security and fighting bots. Ticketmaster also does not embrace deceptive and questionable secondary ticketing practices prevalent on rival sites such as speculative ticketing.
We are proud of the work we do across both concerts and ticketing, and will continue working to improve and support the live events industry.
