A committee of the United States Senate announced on Monday that it had issued a subpoena to Live Nation (LYV.N) and its affiliate Ticketmaster, requesting information regarding ticket prices, fees, and secondary sales.
Ticketmaster slammed for hardball methods and excessive prices for decades, received a new round of verbal beatings last year following botched ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour. The criticism stemmed from Ticketmaster mishandling sales for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour.
“Live Nation has egregiously stonewalled my subcommittee’s inquiry into its abusive consumer practices, making the subpoena necessary,” Senator Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic chair of the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, said in a statement. Blumenthal is the chair of the investigation committee in the United States Senate.
In the cover letter included with the subpoena, Blumenthal asserted that Live Nation had not complied fully with the document requests delivered in March. The letter had a date of November 16 on it.
A representative for Live Nation stated in a statement that the firm had presented “extensive information” to the Subcommittee and had multiple meetings with the staff.
“We have asked for customary confidentiality measures so that we can disclose the additional information sought about artist and client compensation as well as other similarly sensitive things. Up to this point, the Subcommittee has declined to provide such assurances. However, the spokeswoman for the committee stated that additional information will be provided on these problems “if and when those protections are in place.”
To comply with the subpoena, the corporation must turn over internal records and emails about prices, annual financial statistics involving fees, the ticket resale business, and its relationship with artists and venues.
