Multiple executives testified at the hearing convened by the US Senate Judiciary Committee which was focused on all things ticketing, being organised in response to the huge problems that occurred last year when tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming American tour went on sale via Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system. Much of the session dealt with the dominance of Ticketmaster and its owner Live Nation within the ticketing and wider live industry, though Live Nation itself tried to skew the conversation towards the need to better regulate ticket touts. The widespread media coverage of the Swifty ticketing meltdown was unsurprisingly seized upon by those within the music industry and the political community who reckon that Live Nation – as a leading promoter, venue operator and ticketing platform – is far too dominant in the live sector. Most of those critics reckon that the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster should never have happened, and some want it reversed. Only one artist was invited to speak at the session – Clyde Lawrence of the New York band Lawrence – though he gave perhaps the most interesting statement. “In the live music market, our promoter should be a true partner to us”, he said. “Since both our pay and theirs is theoretically a share of the show’s profits, we should be aligned in our incentives: keep costs low while ensuring the best fan experience. But with Live Nation not only acting as the promoter but also as the owner and/or operator of the venue, it complicates these incentives when looking at line items in a show’s settlement sheet”, he went on, “which ultimately determines how much each party gets paid”. This one ain’t over, folks. Via multiple outlets