Overview
- At a Jan. 28 Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing, Kid Rock said the Live Nation–Ticketmaster merger "failed miserably" and urged Congress to subpoena industry contracts for "mountains of fraud and abuse."
- He proposed letting artists choose ticket sellers, capping resale at roughly 10% above face value, and tougher enforcement against bots and speculative listings.
- Subcommittee chair Sen. Marsha Blackburn pressed Live Nation executive Dan Wall with an internal email alleging Ticketmaster "turns a blind eye" to scalpers; Wall denied a monopoly, disputed the email’s context, and said Ticketmaster’s bot defenses are "second to none."
- The Justice Department and a coalition of about 30 state and district attorneys general are seeking to break up Live Nation in an antitrust case, while the FTC and seven states separately allege deceptive pricing that produced nearly $1 billion in fees over five years.
- Congress is considering the TICKET Act, stronger BOTS enforcement and the MAIN Event Ticketing Act, and senators are discussing resale price caps as they probe fees, bot activity and market power.