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☆ U.S. senator questions Ticketmaster after Taylor Swift sales complaints
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LOS ANGELES, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Ticketmaster faced new questions from a Democratic U.S. senator over its sales practices on Thursday, two days after Taylor Swift fans complained about website outages and long waits to buy tickets to her upcoming U.S. tour. In the letter to Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment Inc (LYV.N), Senator Amy Klobuchar voiced "serious concern about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful impact on consumers." On Tuesday, Swift fans swarmed the Ticketmaster website and encountered long wait times, with many unable to buy tickets. Ticketmaster said the tour generated unprecedented demand and it worked quickly to fix problems. Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in a 2010 deal approved by the Justice Department.

☆ Ticketmaster expected 1.5 million 'verified' Taylor Swift fans on the site but 14 million people were trying to get tickets, Live Nation chairman says: 'We could have filled 900 stadiums'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ticketmaster was only supposed to be opened to 1.5 million "verified" Taylor Swift fans for presale. Live Nation's chairman said 14 million people tried to get tickets, and could've filled 900 stadiums. "Despite all the challenges and the breakdowns, we did sell over 2 million tickets that day," Live Nation's Greg Maffei said. However, among the 14 million fans were bots, "which are not supposed to be there," Maffei said. Maffei said Ticketmaster attempted to build "capacity for peak demand," but Swift's ticket sales "exceeded every expectation."

☆ Taylor Swift resale ticket prices soar past $28,000 amid fan frenzy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Lisa Richwine | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Presales began on Tuesday and brought millions of people to the Ticketmaster website, causing periodic outages and long online wait times. "The Eras Tour" is Swift's first since 2018, and it is not unusual for websites to encounter problems for hot shows or products such as collectible sneakers or video game consoles. A new round of Swift ticket presales, for Capital One credit card holders, proceeded on Wednesday with fewer complaints on social media. Some fans said wait times stretched past three hours in online queues, and many left empty-handed when ticket allotments sold out. She has promised hits from albums spanning her career on the "Eras" tour.

☆ Ticketmaster meltdown for Taylor Swift tickets sparks outrage
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Chris Isidore | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

The Justice Department and many state attorneys general have made similar complaints over the years. The Justice Department and states allowed the Live Nation Ticketmaster merger to go through despite a 2010 court filing in the case raising objections to the merger. In the filing, the Justice Department said that Ticketmaster’s share among major concert venues exceeded 80%. Past efforts to rein in Ticketmaster control over the ticket market have failed. The Justice Department and the states gave approval of to the Live Nation-Ticketmaster combination, but did call for some oversight.

☆ Taylor Swift’s Concert Ticket Sales Plagued by Ticketmaster Delays
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Anne Steele | Ashley Wong | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Taylor Swift’s 52-date run is slated to be her most extensive U.S. stadium tour to date. A rush to buy tickets for Taylor Swift ’s first tour in five years—and five albums—left fans scrambling and distraught Tuesday as Ticketmaster’s system was overwhelmed in markets across the U.S. and would-be buyers waited in long lines. Live Nation Entertainment Inc.’s Ticketmaster site, which is selling tickets for the 2023 tour via a system meant to give preferential treatment to longtime fans, crashed in New York and other cities amid a crush of fans trying to snap up what industry executives have anticipated will be the hottest tickets since the lift of pandemic restrictions on the live touring business.

☆ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez calls for Ticketmaster-Live Nation 'monopoly' to be broken up in response to Taylor Swift pre-sale controversy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Kayla Gallagher | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Pre-sale tickets for Taylor Swift's upcoming "Eras" tour went on sale Tuesday. Ocasio-Cortez took the opportunity to voice longstanding concern about the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster, the ticket sales and distribution company, and Live Nation, the events promoter and venue operator, into Live Nation Entertainment. "We write in support of strong antitrust enforcement by the Biden Administration, including the live event ticket sales marketplace," the letter begins. Social media influencer Ellie Schnitt tweeted, "When Taylor Swift wrote 'the great war' she was actually preparing us for the Battle of Ticketmaster." — Taylor Swift, but also Ticketmaster after its site crashed.

☆ Why Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen tickets will be more expensive and tougher to get
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Ian Thomas | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

When those tickets go on sale later in the week, it'll likely be minutes before they all sell out. Joe Berchtold, Live Nation president and chief financial officer, said on the company's third-quarter earnings call with analysts on Nov. 4 that "this is structurally a level of spend that we're seeing from the consumer now." And we're seeing a relatively strong inelasticity on the demand for those best tickets," he said. Berchtold said that Live Nation's outlook for stadium tours next year – boosted by Swift – will be "far and away the largest stadium we've ever had." That means there will likely be no end to the high demand for tickets.

☆ Summer Travel Boom Extends Into Fall as Americans Keep Spending Away From Home
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-05 | by ( Will Feuer | Denny Jacob | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Americans’ appetite for travel and entertainment remains strong ahead of the holidays, as desires to spend on experiences overcome concerns about inflation and the economy. Those concerns haven’t deterred many travel plans, executives at hotel chains, cruise-line operators, vacation-booking platforms and other leisure companies said in recent earnings reports. Hotels have more guests staying, even as room rates climb. Attendance at concerts and live events this summer broke records, Live Nation Entertainment Inc. said.

"These are junk fees," President Joe Biden told reporters at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The White House said the move could eliminate billions in banking fees. The agency said that both fees likely violate the Consumer Financial Protection Act's prohibition on unfair fees that are unavoidable to consumers. In a fact sheet, the White House noted that bank overdraft and non-sufficient funds fees accounted for an estimated $15.5 billion in revenue for banks in 2019. He cited processing fees for concert tickets and resort fees at hotels as two items his administration is examining.

☆ How to invest in communications stocks, a sector that's huge, highly diversified, and growing — offering something for almost every type of investor
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Amy Fontinelle | Read More | Read Less | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Here's what you should know about how to invest in communications stocks, what the risks are, and what rewards you might anticipate. Companies in the media, entertainment, interactive gaming, information creation, and information distribution businesses also belong to the communications sector. Basically, it expanded the existing telecommunications sector to become a broader communications services sector. The advantages of communications stocksThere are a variety of reasons for investors to consider communications companies. And the COVID-19 lifestyle shifts might make us permanently more reliant on communications companies, even once the pandemic is behind us.

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