Durbin Delivers Opening Statement During Judiciary Committee Hearing on Problems in America’s Ticketing & Live Entertainment Markets
WASHINGTON – U.S.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, today delivered an opening statement at the Senate Judiciary
Committee hearing examining the lack of competition in the ticketing industry
titled, “That’s the Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in
Live Entertainment.”
Key quotes:
“Live event
ticketing garnered a lot of attention in the end of 2022. Most notably,
in November, Ticketmaster’s systems failed during the pre-sale for Taylor
Swift’s new tour, leaving millions of fans stuck in virtual queues for hours
waiting to buy tickets.”
“While
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment have offered
explanations for these issues, these issues are symptomatic, I think, of a
larger problem.”
“The ticketing and
live entertainment markets lack competition and they are dominated by a single
entity: Live Nation. Live Nation merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 in a
deal that joined the country’s largest ticketing company with its largest event
promoter.”
“The Justice
Department and attorneys general from many states—including my home state of
Illinois—sued to block the merger. The plaintiffs ultimately allowed the
merger to go through, but put in place a consent decree with a set of
conditions and divestitures designed to ensure competition in the ticketing and
live entertainment markets.”
“Unfortunately,
that consent decree does not appear to have been effective. In the
decade-plus since the merger, Live Nation has consolidated its dominant
position in the ticketing and live entertainment markets, and the result is a
competition killing strategy that has left artists and fans paying the price.”
“Before turning to
Senator Graham, I’d like to thank Senator Klobuchar, who has brought
competition policy to the forefront of our national conversation as Chair of
the Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, and
also thank her Ranking Member, Senator Mike Lee of Utah.”
“Senator Klobuchar
and Senator Lee asked for this hearing and have led the effort in putting it
together. They have assembled an expert panel of witnesses who will discuss how
the ticketing and live entertainment markets became so concentrated, to the
detriment of consumers; the impacts of that concentration; and the steps we
need to take to bring competition back.”
Video of Durbin’s opening statement
is available here.
Audio of Durbin’s opening statement
is available here.
Footage of Durbin’s opening
statement is available here
for TV Stations.
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