Taylor Swift Fiasco Renews NJ Reps' Calls To Investigate Ticketmaster, Live Nation

NEW JERSEY — Rep. Bill Pascrell isn't your average Swiftie. Unlike the scores of Taylor Swift fans frustrated with Ticketmaster, he has direct access to the highest rungs of the Department of Justice, and he's among the New Jersey leaders renewing calls for a probe into the ticketing service.

Demand overwhelmed Ticketmaster when pre-sales for Swift's "The Eras Tour" went online, temporarily knocking its homepage offline Tuesday. The resale market has contributed to sky-high prices. Tickets for Swift's May 28 show at MetLife Stadium cost a minimum of $360 and as much as $22,500 as of Thursday.

The artist's tour will hold three MetLife shows from May 26-28.

"Like most of you I'm on the waitlist," Pascrell (NJ-9) tweeted Tuesday. "Let me know how your experience is today: we’re watching you."

Frustrations with Ticketmaster have mounted since the company merged with Live Nation in 2010. The full return of live music from pandemic restrictions has the issues resurfacing, including tickets for Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band's 2023 tour costing as much as $5,000 earlier this year.

Last year, five members of Congress, including Pascrell and Rep. Frank Pallone (NJ-6), called for the Biden administration to enforcement of antitrust laws against Ticketmaster. The April 19, 2021, letter resurfaced Tuesday with calls for the DOJ to investigate.

"The merger of these companies should never have been allowed in the first place," Rep. David N. Cicilline tweeted, "which is why I have joined @FrankPallone, @RepJerryNadler, and @BillPascrell to call on the DOJ to investigate Live Nation’s efforts to jack up prices and strangle competition."

Ticketmaster, now owned by Live Nation Entertainment, held more than 80 percent of the venue ticket-sales market in 2008 and remained the market leader as of 2017, according to a 2018 report from the Government Accountability Office. The politicians cited the statistic in April 2021's letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter — then the Federal Trade Commission's acting chair.

During the merger, antitrust regulators approved the deal with certain conditions. But in 2019, the DOJ found that Live Nation violated the terms of the settlement by forcing venues to accept Ticketmaster's ticketing services as a condition for hosting Live Nation's performers. The agency threatened to assess monetary penalties for additional violations and installed a monitor to investigate further breaches of the consent decree, which was extended until 2025.

But that wasn't enough, according to the letter's signees. The leaders called for an immediate investigation into Live Nation Entertainment from the DOJ and FTC.

"We believe the prior administration's decision to extend the consent decree in 2019 to 2025 was insufficient to project customers," the letter says. "In its decision, DOJ did not demonstrate why extending the consent decree with only minor modifications would prevent LNE from continuing from continuing anticompetitive conduct."