Garth Brooks Defends TicketMaster Amidst Congressional Hearing, Calls for an End to Scalping

Ticketmaster has long been a nuisance for fans who want to snag tickets when their favorite artist comes into town. The recent debacle involving Taylor Swift tickets has led to a congressional investigation into anti-competitive tactics used by the company. Country star Garth Brooks has emerged as a defender of Ticketmaster, claiming the real problem is scalpers who put too much demand on the ticketing website.

Congress is investigating Ticketmaster after the disastrous Taylor Swift pre-sale tickets situation

Since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged, the company has held a monopoly over the ticket-selling industry. In November 2022, Taylor Swift fans swarmed the website when the pre-sale for her upcoming The Eras Tour. Many Swifties were excited to secure their seats for the tour, but many were greeted with website crashes or excessive wait times in queues. Taylor Swift issued a statement after the incident, stating she was upset her fans had to deal with this issue after being “assured” that Live Nation could handle the demand. 

Shortly after, scalpers sold tickets on resale websites for thousands of dollars. The parent company, Live Nation, blamed the situation on bots and overwhelming demand. The outrage that followed led to attention from congress, which announced a hearing to look into possible anti-competitive practices by Live Nation. The hearings are ongoing, with many artists, expert witnesses, and Live Nation representatives providing testimony. 

Garth Brooks wrote a letter to congress defending Ticketmaster and blaming scalpers

Swifties may not be too happy with Garth Brooks, who recently sent a letter to congress defending Ticketmaster. In the letter, the “Friends in Low Places” singer says the representatives he worked with from Ticketmaster showed a “true concern and care for ticket buyers.” He shared a story about refusing to play at AT&T Stadium unless the Cowboys organization allowed Ticketmaster to handle the sales. 

Brooks then said it’s hard for any service to handle excessive demand and some things are out of their control. He then ends the letter by asking congress if they can look into making scalping illegal, as he believes this is the main issue plaguing customers. 

“While I have you, My question is, as a country, why don’t we just make scalping illegal? The crush of bots during an on-sale is a huge reason for program failure NO MATTER WHO THE TICKET SELLING COMPANY is,” Brooks writes. “And the one who ALWAYS pays for this atrocity is the customer, the LAST one on whom that burden should fall. Making scalping illegal eliminates bots, eliminates dynamic pricing controversies, puts less pressure on the system because it puts everyone on a level playing field.”

Other artists are testifying against the ticketing agency

While Garth Brooks supports Ticketmaster, many other artists are taking a stand against the ticketing service. According to Taste of Country, the independent band Lawrence testified and said that the service wields its power unfairly by hiking up prices and stripping the band’s revenue from “a $42 ticket to $6, pre-tax.”

Joe Berchtold — CFO and president of Live Nation — stated during the hearing that the company only owns 5% of U.S. venues, but many critics suggest that the venues it owns are the most profitable and highest-profile.