Ticketmaster learned “valuable lessons” when sales of Taylor Swift’s 2023 US tour were disrupted by software attacks, the parent company will later testify before the US Senate.
The attack overwhelmed Ticketmaster’s systems, resulting in lengthy delays and thousands of disappointed fans unable to purchase seats to the shows.
“Looking back, there are some things we could have done better,” Live Nation President Joe Berchtold said in written testimony released ahead of Tuesday’s hearing.
He acknowledged the sale was “a terrible consumer experience” and apologized “to the many disappointed fans, as well as to Ms. Swift.”
Ticketmaster has been repeatedly criticized by fans and politicians, who say it has too much control over the live music market and artificially inflates ticket prices with fees and service charges.
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According to Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the US Senate Consumer Rights Committee, Ticketmaster is responsible for 70% of US ticket sales.
“In truth there is no other choice. It’s a monopoly,” she told MSNBC last year.
Speaking of the Swift Tour, she added, “The high fees, website disruptions and cancellations experienced by customers show that Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company is not under pressure to continually innovate and improve .”
Swift herself said it was “excruciating” to see fans struggling to get tickets and that she was assured Ticketmaster could handle the demand.
In its written testimony, the company explained for the first time how its systems were being attacked by software “bots” used to illegally purchase tickets.
The attacks came despite Ticketmaster’s use of “Verified Fan” scheme, which requires customers to pre-register their interest so the company can verify that they are genuine fans intending to watch the show.
“We knew bots would attack… and planned accordingly,” Mr. Berchtold wrote.
“Then we were hit by three times the bot traffic we’ve never had before, and for the first time in 400 Verified Fan onsales, they came after our Verified Fan passcode servers.
“While the bots couldn’t penetrate our systems or purchase tickets, the attack required us to slow and even pause our sales. This resulted in a terrible consumer experience that we deeply regret.”
Mr Berchtold also conceded that the company should have staggered sales “over a longer period of time” to avoid overloading its systems and that it “should have done a better job of meeting fans’ expectations for receiving tickets.” to be determined”.
In the end, 2.2 million tickets were sold, he added, with less than 5% ending up on resale sites, where scalpers tend to overcharge.
In response to other criticisms, he said that Ticketmaster “does not set ticket prices” and that “the majority” of the additional fees “go to the venue, not Ticketmaster.”
The Swift tour debacle prompted Tuesday a hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee, which will examine competition in the ticketing industry.
In addition to Live Nation, the senators will hear from representatives from SeatGeek, concert promoter JAM Productions and singer-songwriter Clyde Lawrence, an outspoken critic of Ticketmaster’s business practices.
Live Nation attached several letters of support to his testimony, including one from country music star Garth Brooks urging US lawmakers to take a tougher stance on ticket promoters.
“My question is why don’t we as a country just make scalping illegal?” he wrote. “The rush of bots during a sale is a big reason why the program fails.
“And the one who always pays for these atrocities is the customer, the last one to bear that burden.”
However, it’s unclear whether Tuesday’s hearing will result in any meaningful change unless evidence is presented of Ticketmaster’s anti-competitive practices — such as unfairly pressuring artists to use its services.
The company has repeatedly denied such deals.
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