Lawmakers tell Live Nation CEO they want answers on the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster fiasco

Lawmakers person immoderate questions for Live Nation's CEO aft Ticketmaster bungled the caller merchantability of Taylor Swift circuit tickets.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee penned a missive to Michael Rapino Tuesday asking the enforcement to clarify Live Nation's ticketing process for the Eras circuit and supply a database of actions the institution volition instrumentality to guarantee consumers volition person amended entree to unrecorded amusement successful the future. Live Nation is the genitor institution of Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster was expected to unfastened up income for 1.5 cardinal verified Taylor Swift fans past period up of wide nationalist summons sales. However, much than 14 cardinal users flocked to the site, including bots, spurring monolithic delays and lockouts connected the site. Ultimately, 2 cardinal tickets were sold during the presale and the wide nationalist merchantability was canceled, institution representatives said.

Ticketmaster said 3.5 cardinal radical had preregistered arsenic portion of the "Verified Fan" program, which was designed to support tickets successful the hands of existent fans and not resellers, resulting successful acold much requests for tickets than could beryllium fulfilled.

"This connection raises questions implicit your bot absorption solution and its quality to adequately support consumers," the House committee wrote successful a letter.

The committee besides requested that Rapino supply insights into Ticketmaster's further fees, insider reserves, dynamic pricing, restrictions connected transferability of tickets, its verified instrumentality programme and scalping by bots and different scammers.

The committee noted successful its missive that determination is authorities is successful spot to code anti-consumer practices and that Ticketmaster could beryllium slapped with fines if it "knowingly sold tickets that were improperly purchased" by automated processes.

The committee requested that Rapino docket a briefing by Dec. 15.

Representatives from Live Nation did not instantly respond to CNBC's petition for comment.

Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster successful 2010, has faced long-standing criticisms astir its size and powerfulness successful the amusement industry — complaints that person lone gained steam pursuing the Eras circuit debacle.

Swift herself publically slammed the company for bungling the income process.

"I'm not going to marque excuses for anyone due to the fact that we asked them, aggregate times, if they could grip this benignant of request and we were assured they could," she wrote successful an Instagram station past month. "It's genuinely astonishing that 2.4 cardinal radical got tickets, but it truly pisses maine disconnected that a batch of them consciousness similar they went done respective carnivore attacks to get them."

Eras circuit tickets were priced from $49 to $450, with VIP packages starting astatine $199 and reaching $899. Secondary marketplace prices can beryllium seen ranging from $800 to $20,000 per ticket.