As many now know, there was a great battle for Taylor Swift tickets in mid-November for her Eras tour, where many devastated fans were left ticketless due to Ticketmaster’s long waiting times, website crashes, and steep prices. Just like Taylor Swift once said in her song, “Gorgeous,” “There’s nothing I hate more than what I can’t have.” Many Swifties (Taylor Swift fans) then sued Ticketmaster, citing antitrust violations and alleged engagement in fraudulent practices. On Tuesday, January 24, the CFO of Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, was questioned by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Ticketmaster, the most dominant player in the ticket industry, and Live Nation, one of the largest producers of live events, merged in 2009, sparking much controversy. In fact, the company controls over seventy percent of the ticket and live event market, according to Caroline Anders of The Washington Post. This consolidation of the entertainment industry threatens competition in the industry, despite the merger being approved by the U.S. Department of Justice. The merged company has been prosecuted over the aforementioned issues of their high prices and dominance over the entertainment industry. Thus, they are returning to court once again due to the controversy with Taylor Swift ticket sales. During the January hearing, Ticketmaster’s witnesses claimed that the main reason for their site’s crash the day of the ticket sale was the excess demand. According to the CFO of Live Nation, Joe Berchtold, this demand was largely exacerbated by an unusually high amount of bot activity on their website.

Representatives of Ticketmaster’s competitors and singer-songwriters alike appeared at the hearing to testify against Ticketmaster. The CEO of SeatGeek, Jack Groetzinger, said that many venues “fear losing Live Nation concerts if they don’t use Ticketmaster” because of the two companies’ close ties with one another. According to Samantha Murphy Kelly of CNN, singer-songwriter Jordan Cohen testified that artists have no power over Ticketmaster as the company controls multiple facets of the ticket industry .

Although the hearing involved many serious issues, the main headlines surrounding the hearing were the Senators’ tributes to Taylor Swift. Both Republican and Democratic Senators alike rallied in support of Taylor Swift by quoting her songs during the hearing. Senator Mike Lee credited his daughter for the idea to say, in reference to Ticketmaster, “Karma’s a relaxing thought; aren’t you envious that for you it’s not?” Senator Amy Klobuchar referenced Swift’s song, “All Too Well,” when referring to Americans’ knowledge of the dangers of consolidation, or monopolies. Senator Richard Blumenthal suggested that “Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem, it’s me,’” in reference to “Anti Hero” from Swift’s Midnights album.

From waiting for hours on end to buy tickets for their favorite artist to going so far as to protest in that artist’s name, one must not forget the core of this case: the Swifties. The morning of the hearings, the Swifties rallied outside of the US Capitol to demonstrate against Ticketmaster. On the way inside the Capitol, Senator Mike Lee commented how happy and smiley they were. It is unclear whether any legislative change will come out of these hearings yet, but it is clear that, as Taylor Swift would say, when the Swifties “walk in the room, [they] can still make the whole place shimmer.”

Information retrieved from CNN, NPR, New York Times, and The Washington Post.