{"id":228225,"date":"2023-01-30T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=228225"},"modified":"2023-01-27T06:14:20","modified_gmt":"2023-01-27T06:14:20","slug":"big-tech-to-us-congress-listen-to-taylor-swift-and-go-after-ticketmaster-not-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/01\/big-tech-to-us-congress-listen-to-taylor-swift-and-go-after-ticketmaster-not-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Tech to US Congress: Listen to Taylor Swift and Go after Ticketmaster, Not Us"},"content":{"rendered":"
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From left to right: Joe Berchtold, Jack Groetzinger, Jerry Mickelson, Sal Nuzzo, Kathleen Bradish, and Clyde Lawrence are sworn in to a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2023. Photo: Al Drago\/Bloomberg via Getty Images<\/p><\/div>\n

25 Jan 2023 – Silicon Valley dodged a hail of congressional bullets through the last several months of 2022. A suite of antitrust legislation threatened to puncture the industry\u2019s monopolistic business model, but the bills never left the upper chamber.<\/p>\n

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The legislative package represented the most advanced legislative threat to Big Tech since the industry\u2019s birth. Several bills passed through the House of Representatives and others, sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee.<\/p>\n

Following the November elections, which saw Republicans take over the House, Big Tech\u2019s Washington lobby kicked it into higher gear, working to make sure the threat didn\u2019t materialize in the next Congress.<\/p>\n

And they found an unlikely hero: Taylor Swift.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In mid-November, Swifties looking to secure tickets to the singer\u2019s upcoming Eras Tour were foiled en masse by monopolistic incompetence of Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, which melted down amid the surge in demand. It was a poignant demonstration of monopolism run amok \u2014 and of what a mistake it had been for the Obama administration to have greenlighted the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger<\/a> that effectively ended competition in the ticketing industry.<\/p>\n

Politicians dutifully denounced the decrepit company, and Big Tech spied an opening to deflect and distract.<\/p>\n

The next day, the lobbying firm NetChoice, which represents the Big Tech conglomerates in Washington, urged Congress and antitrust policymakers to focus their attention on Ticketmaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress and progressives like Amy Klobuchar are spending all this time going after tech leaders including Meta, Google, Amazon and Apple, which are far from monopolies,\u201d NetChoice policy counsel Jennifer Huddleston said in an email November 16 to press and Washington power brokers. \u201cInstead, the government should use existing laws and resources to protect consumers and investigate Ticketmaster\u2019s anti-competitive practices in the concert marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For its first hearing of the year<\/a> on Tuesday, January 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee chose to target Live Nation, with Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in a panel titled, \u201cThat\u2019s the Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The hearing included testimony from Joe Berchtold, president and chief financial officer of Live Nation Entertainment; Jack Groetzinger, CEO of SeatGeek; Jerry Mickelson, CEO and president of Jam Productions; and musician Clyde Lawrence of the band Lawrence; and advocates on both sides of the issue.<\/p>\n

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Right now the The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding a hearing on Ticketmaster, and whether or not the company has monopoly power, controlling too much of the ticket industry and driving up prices.<\/p>\n

Senator Amy Klobuchar kicked it off with a reference to Taylor Swift. \ud83e\uddf5 pic.twitter.com\/FjhBR5JCJe<\/a><\/p>\n

— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) January 24, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n