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Senators slam Ticketmaster over bungling of Taylor Swift tickets, question breakup

Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, left, testifies to a Senate subcommittee on Feb. 24, 2009 over the proposed, and ultimately successful, merger between his company and Ticketmaster.
Tom Williams
/
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, left, testifies to a Senate subcommittee on Feb. 24, 2009 over the proposed, and ultimately successful, merger between his company and Ticketmaster.

It's been 13 years since the Justice Department allowed a merger between corporate giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster to go through, creating the largest live event company in the country, if not the world. The deal was subject to an agreement with the government that set certain conditions and limitations on the companies' operations, in order to prevent the conglomerate from becoming a monopoly.

"They said in the hearing it was something like 87% of the entire ticketing industry," says Variety senior editor Jem Aswad, "and it's hard to make a case that that's not a monopoly." Aswad joined All Things Considered following a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday that focused on whether, after a Taylor Swift ticketing debacle in the fall and years of criticism from artists over anticompetitive practices by the company, a breakup of the two companies should be seriously considered.

To hear the full conversation, use the audio player at the top of this page.

Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Karen Zamora
[Copyright 2024 NPR]
Christopher Intagliata is an editor at All Things Considered, where he writes news and edits interviews with politicians, musicians, restaurant owners, scientists and many of the other voices heard on the air.
Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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