Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour was expected to break records.
But when tickets for the 52-show tour went on sale last week, the demand apparently broke the server, and had lawmakers and consumer advocates up in arms against Ticketmaster.
The problem is Ticketmaster’s virtual monopoly on ticket sales for live events, especially since the company’s 2010 merger with Live Nation.
Ticketmaster controls the ticketing market and live nation represents artists, owns venues and promotes shows. The meltdown has the Department of Justice investigating Live Nation and critics calling for the merger to be reversed.
Coming up on Tech Tuesday, we look at the Taylor Swift effect on Ticketmaster’s grip.
We’ve come to expect the food we purchase to have nutrition fact labels. Soon smart devices will have something similar.
The holiday shopping season kicks off this week with Black Friday.
Guests:
- Yuvraj Agarwal, Associate Professor of Computer Science and the director of SynergyLabs at Carnegie Mellon University
- Morgan Harper, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the American Economic Liberties Project and former U.S. Senate candidate for Ohio
- Russell Holly, Managing Editor for Commerce at CNET
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