The US Department of Justice has opened an investigation against the owners of the ticket sales website “Ticketmaster”. This is what the “New York Times” newspaper published this evening (Friday). According to the publication, the focus of the investigation is examining the question of whether the Live Nation Entertainment corporation, which owns the company, abused its power in the multibillion-dollar live concert industry.
Earlier this evening, the Reuters news agency published that the American Congress plans to hold a hearing for “Ticketmaster”, following the problems caused this week during the opening of ticket sales for the new concert tour of the American singer Taylor Swift. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chairwoman of the Senate antitrust panel, did not give a date for the hearing, but said it would take place this year.
Ticketmaster was heavily criticized for its handling of the “presale” round on Tuesday, when the growing demand for tickets led to the site’s collapse. According to reports, about 3.5 million people tried to purchase tickets, without success. Yesterday, a company announced that another ticket sale that was planned to take place today, was canceled due to the high demand and lack of ticket stock.
Taylor Swift’s response to the ticket sales saga, tonight (photo: Instagram)
Tonight, the singer responded in a story she posted on her Instagram account to the storm that accompanied the sale of tickets. “There were many reasons why people struggled to get tickets. It’s really amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it’s even more infuriating that so many of them feel they had to fight to get them.” Swift added that she would try to “figure out how to fix and improve the situation.”