A Senate subcommittee on investigations issued a subpoena looking to force the concert giant to submit documents on ticket prices and fees
A Senate subcommittee issued a subpoena to live music giant Live Nation Entertainment late last week, seeking documents related to ticket prices and fees listed on Ticketmaster.
The subpoena, obtained by Rolling Stone, comes eight months after the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations first launched an inquiry into Live Nation over the company’s “business practices, including the prices and fees for tickets to live events sold by Live Nation/Ticketmaster,” requesting the documents related to that inquiry on March 24th. That inquiry hadn’t been publicly reported prior to the subpoena filing, as the company faces broader regulatory scrutiny over potential antitrust concerns.
But as Subcommittee chairman Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) claimed in the subpoena last week, the company hasn’t cooperated with the request to this point. “Despite nearly eight months and extensive efforts to obtain voluntary compliance, Live Nation/Ticketmaster has failed to fully comply with PSI’s requests, including refusing to produce certain documents critical to the Subcommittee’s inquiry,” Blumenthal wrote.
I’d say they’re being ripped off by all of those other corporations too. And maybe they should be made to realize that. But of course those companies are the big donors.
Also, heaven forbid the government get voters to care about oil companies destroying the planet. Imagine congress going up against them. Not that it would ever happen.
Ticketmaster/Live Nation sre the most visible monopoly in most people’s lives. Your average person doesn’t realize how much companies like Nestle and Unilever actually own and control. But we are all forced to use Ticketmaster’s broken apps and pay their exorbitant fees to see our favorite love entertainment. An optimistic view is that LiveNation is a slam dunk first step to more trust busting.
How likely do you think that is?