Editing Ticketmaster (section)

=== United States Senate committee hearing ===
On January 24, 2023, a three-hour hearing by the Senate judiciary committee,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Murphy Kelly |first=Samantha |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Ticketmaster gets grilled: 6 takeaways from hearing over Taylor Swift concert fiasco |agency=[[CNN Business]] |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/tech/ticketmaster-hearing-taylor-swift/index.html |url-status=live |access-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125073708/https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/24/tech/ticketmaster-hearing-taylor-swift/index.html |archive-date=January 25, 2023}}</ref> titled "That's the Ticket: Promoting Competition and Protecting Consumers in Live Entertainment", to analyze "the long-simmering dissatisfaction over the 2010 consent decree governing the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation", was held at 10:00 am EST in the [[Hart Senate Office Building]], Washington, D.C.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Brooks |first=Dave |date=January 23, 2023 |title=Ticketmaster Plans to Blame Scalpers for Taylor Swift Debacle at Senate Hearing |url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-senate-hearing-scalpers/ |url-status=live |magazine=Billboard |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124002749/https://www.billboard.com/pro/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-senate-hearing-scalpers/ |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |access-date=January 24, 2023}}</ref> The hearing was telecast live. Various media outlets reported that both the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] senators "grilled" Ticketmaster's representative, Joe Berchtold, the company's [[chief financial officer]]. The senators questioned Berchtold over Ticketmaster's monopolistic practices, policies, ticket costs, lack of transparency, lack of defense against bots, and insensitivity to music artists. Berchtold, despite apologizing for the debacle, denied accusations of monopoly and fraud, but accepted that "there are several things we could have done better—including staggering the sales over a longer period of time and doing a better job setting fan expectations for getting tickets" and continued to blame "industrial-scale ticket scalping" and "unprecedented number of bots" in Swift's tour debacle. The witnesses prosecuting Ticketmaster included Jerry Mickelson, the president of [[JAM Creative Productions]]; and Jack Groetzinger, co-founder of [[SeatGeek]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 25, 2023 |title=Taylor Swift concert fiasco leads to US Senate grilling for Ticketmaster |newspaper=[[The Indian Express]] |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/music/taylor-swift-concert-fiasco-leads-to-us-senate-grilling-for-ticketmaster-8403132/ |url-status=live |access-date=January 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230125053425/https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/music/taylor-swift-concert-fiasco-leads-to-us-senate-grilling-for-ticketmaster-8403132/ |archive-date=January 25, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Elbeshbishi |first=Sarah |title='Industrial-scale ticket scalping.' Senators grill Ticketmaster over Taylor Swift concert fiasco |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/24/senate-judiciary-taylor-swift-ticketmaster/11091086002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124233707/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/24/senate-judiciary-taylor-swift-ticketmaster/11091086002/ |archive-date=January 24, 2023 |access-date=January 25, 2023 |newspaper=[[USA Today]]}}</ref> Live Nation cited several letters of support within its testimony, including one from American country singer [[Garth Brooks]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Ticketmaster apologises for Taylor Swift tour sales fiasco |agency=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64384304 |url-status=live |access-date=January 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126153110/https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64384304 |archive-date=January 26, 2023}}</ref> Free Britney America, a D.C. organization that was part of the [[Britney Spears conservatorship dispute|Free Britney movement]], protested outside the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] during the hearing "in support of ending Ticketmaster-Live Nation's monopoly over the live event and ticketing industry."<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 24, 2023 |title=DC organization protests against Ticketmaster and Live Nation outside US Capitol |agency=[[WCIV]] |url=https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/dc-organization-protests-against-ticketmaster-and-live-nation-outside-us-capitol-taylor-swift-ticket-controversy-live-nation-entertainment-concert-pop-star-music-eras-stadium-tour-high-demands-insufficient-inventory |url-status=live |access-date=January 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124171853/https://abcnews4.com/news/nation-world/dc-organization-protests-against-ticketmaster-and-live-nation-outside-us-capitol-taylor-swift-ticket-controversy-live-nation-entertainment-concert-pop-star-music-eras-stadium-tour-high-demands-insufficient-inventory |archive-date=January 24, 2023}}</ref>