An update on Ticketmaster

 

THANK YOU SENATOR WARREN FOR CONTINUING TO PROTECT AMERICAN 

CONSUMERS FROM THIS OUTRAGEOUS ABUSE!

Since I last sent this note below on why we need to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster, we’ve got some new updates. Today, the Department of Justice officially filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation to break up their monopoly over the live entertainment industry. In their announcement, Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “We allege that Live Nation relies on unlawful, anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans, artists, smaller promoters, and venue operators. The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services. It is time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.” So if you’ve ever spent half a day in the online queue on Ticketmaster only to have the privilege of paying over $1,000 on a ticket, this one’s for you. I’m fighting hard to continue to take on concentrated corporate power like this and stop companies from getting away with ridiculously high prices and ridiculously crummy service. If you agree that we need to break up big corporate monopolies like this, please pitch in $5 or anything you can to support this work. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth --- Forwarded message --- From: Elizabeth Warren Date: April 17, 2024 Subject: re: the Ticketmaster lawsuit Have you been ripped off by Ticketmaster’s hidden fees and high prices? Have you spent hours waiting in a queue for tickets that aren’t even available anymore?? No matter who you’re a fan of — whether it’s Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny, or Beyoncé, or the Sox or the Celtics — fans are overwhelmingly united in agreeing that Ticketmaster makes the ticket-buying experience expensive and excruciating. So here’s an update you might appreciate: New reporting from the Wall Street Journal indicates that the Department of Justice plans to file an antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent company Live Nation. This lawsuit will be a big step in the right direction to hold monopolistic corporations accountable for hurting consumers, and we can keep making strides if we continue fighting side by side. I’ll explain more below, but if you agree that we need to break up big corporate monopolies like this, please add your name here. I’m fighting hard to take on concentrated corporate power — and when we fight together, we can stop companies from getting away with ridiculously high prices and ridiculously crummy service. ADD YOUR NAME Just to back up a bit: In 2010, the federal government had let Live Nation, a huge concert-promoting company, buy Ticketmaster, a huge concert-ticket-selling company. Together, they became a one-two punch of market dominance, leaving little competition to rein in skyrocketing prices and encourage quality service. And their monopoly power goes beyond just jacking up ticket prices for consumers — it’s harming employees, vendors, and artists too: Ticketmaster has been hiding fees and progressively piling on charges the further consumers get into the ticket-buying process. Live Nation has maintained a gigantic pay gap between CEO compensation and median pay for employees in 2023 — with CEO Michael Rapino bringing home $139 million last year, 5,414 times as much as the $25,673 median pay for employees, according to the Institute of Policy Studies. New findings indicate that Ticketmaster is also using schemes to hide profits right under our noses — incentivizing vendors to charge them at higher rates in exchange for undisclosed financial gains in the form of rebates, which allows Live Nation and Ticketmaster to use accounting tricks to record a “loss.” Meanwhile, they’re making massive financial gains by not disclosing these rebate arrangements to the artists, managers, or co-promoters, who are often unknowingly shouldering the costs of these confidential deals, according to those findings. Now, harmful corporate consolidation isn’t just in the live entertainment industry — it’s everywhere. Big agribusinesses are crushing family farmers and jacking up prices for consumers. Big tech companies are elbowing out startups and using our private information for profit. Big airlines are getting away with higher fares for lower-quality service. Pure and simple, the American people are suffering under the thumb of corporations that are just too big and too powerful. I’ll keep calling on the Biden administration to use all of its tools to fight back against corporate monopolies. I’ve also got a bill — the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act — to ban the biggest, most competition-crushing mergers, restore competition, and bring down prices for consumers. I’ll stay in the fight — but it’s only possible because I’ve got people like you fighting alongside me, Frank. If you’re with me in this fight, will you add your name to support holding predatory corporations like Ticketmaster accountable for violating antitrust laws and ripping off American people? ADD YOUR NAME Thanks for being part of this, Elizabeth

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The dress that only came out for weddings, graduations, and funerals.

 

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN HAS CONTINUE TO SPEAK OUT FOR 
ALL AMERICANS FAMILIES & PROTECT CONSUMERS 

MASSACHUSETTS IS TRULY BLESSED TO HAVE SUCH A DEDICATED SENATOR!

I hope you’re having a good Mother’s Day, and if this holiday hits you hard, my heart goes out to you. I’m thinking about my mother today, and I’m thinking about a time when she dug deep to take care of our family. After my daddy had a heart attack, he couldn’t work for a while. Bills piled up. We lost our family station wagon. It looked like the house would be next to go. At night, I’d overhear my parents talk, and that's when I learned words like “mortgage” and “foreclosure.” One day, I walked into my parents’ bedroom. My mother’s face was red and puffy. A dress was laid out over the bedspread — the dress that only came out for weddings, graduations, and funerals. "We are not going to lose this house,” she kept saying. “We are not going to lose this house.” She’d never worked outside the home. She was terrified. But she knew what she had to do. I watched her while she pulled it together, put that dress on, put on her high heels, blew her nose, walked to Sears, and got a minimum wage job. And that minimum wage job saved our house, but more importantly, it saved our family. This is a story that’s written on my heart. I’m remembering my mother’s courage this Mother’s Day — and I’m thinking about all the mamas out there fighting for their families. I’m also thinking about all the ways the deck is stacked against mothers and families like ours today. A mother in the same situation as our family today would not be able to work a minimum wage job and keep everyone afloat. Today, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour — a wage that has not increased in about 15 years. With that, a family living on minimum wage today is living in poverty. And, without quality, affordable child care, mothers have been shoved out of the workforce. They will feel the consequences — in lost earnings, in lower Social Security benefits — for the rest of their lives. And, notably, most women who get abortions today are already mothers. Many are working multiple jobs that don’t pay enough to support their children. Abortion bans make it even harder for those families to make ends meet. I’m going to keep up the fight for higher wages, affordable child care, paid family leave, and reproductive freedom to honor my mother and mothers everywhere. And, look: I’m sure that social media right now is chock-full of Republican politicians waxing poetic about how much they love mothers. But I don’t want to see any tributes from them today unless they’re actually going to do something — anything — to improve the lives of mothers tomorrow. Thank you, for being a part of our grassroots movement to make real change — to put our government on the side of mothers and families. Elizabeth

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Airline travelers no longer have to wait on hold for a measly voucher refund

 

WE NEED A CONSUMER ADVOCATE WORKING FOR ALL AMERICANS!

If you’ve ever experienced the sheer joy of a flight getting canceled and sitting on the floor of a terminal while on hold with customer service, listening to upbeat elevator music for hours in order to receive a refund in the form of a measly voucher, I’ve got great news for you. The Biden-Harris administration recently announced new rules that protect airline travelers, including: Requiring airlines to automatically give full cash refunds — not vouchers, not flight credits — for canceled and significantly delayed flights. Making it so airlines can no longer call their own shots for what defines “significantly delayed.” Across the board, customers will receive refunds for domestic flights that are delayed more than three hours and international flights that are delayed more than six hours. Applying these protections for tickets purchased directly from airlines, travel agents and third-party sites. Requiring airlines to give automatic cash refunds if your bags are lost and not delivered within 12 hours. Sounds great, right? But we faced a roadblock while getting this across the finish line. You see, the Senate just negotiated these new rules as part of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, and I noticed one line in the bill that completely stripped the “automatic” part out of the automatic refunds. Instead of automatically getting their money back, customers would be forced to manually request refunds in writing or online, wasting time and energy. I knew this would be a gift to the airline companies, who know many travelers won’t have the time or resources to navigate the bureaucratic process they designed. So I fought back and filed a bipartisan amendment to make those refunds actually automatic and crack down on these ways airlines make it harder for consumers to get their money back. We fought, and we delivered. Last night, the Senate passed these new rules that protect travelers — with those actually automatic refunds guaranteed. I’m going to keep fighting to stop airline companies and big corporations from taking advantage of consumers. If you’re able, can you please chip in $5 or anything you can to support this important work? If you've saved payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will process automatically: DONATE NOW: $15 DONATE NOW: $28 DONATE NOW: $50 DONATE NOW: $100 DONATE NOW: $250 OTHER AMOUNT Rampant flight cancellations and delays have cost Americans time, money, and memories they could be making on long-awaited trips — and the companies responsible are not being held accountable. While travelers are forced to sleep on terminal chairs instead of spending the holidays with their families, airline executives still pocket the money they got for unmet services. Enough. For years, I’ve called for new consumer protection rules for airline passengers, urging the Department of Transportation to fine airlines that delay or cancel flights because of staffing or operational issues. The Biden-Harris administration has taken this issue seriously, and the new proposed rules will drastically rebalance the power dynamic between consumers and airline companies. And I’m glad the Senate passed my amendment that put American families ahead of airline profit and ensured the automatic refunds would actually be automatic. This is just another way we can put the government on the side of working people, not corporations, and I’m fighting hard to keep delivering these wins for working people. If you’re able to pitch in $5 or anything you can today, you’ll ensure we can keep up this fight in the Senate to stop corporations from taking advantage of consumers. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth

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I’m not willing to wait until January 2025 to try

 

SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN HAS CONTINUED TO WORK FOR ALL 

AMERICANS, TO IMPROVE GOVERNMENT, REIN IN BANKS, CURB ABUSE, 

PROTECT CONSUMERS. THANK YOU MASSACHUSETTS FOR SENDING 

HER TO THE SENATE! 

I’ve got a whole bunch of plans for what we can accomplish with a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic White House in 2025. Plans like making Supreme Court justices follow a basic code of ethics, taxing wealthy billionaires, and abolishing the filibuster to pass abortion rights and gun safety laws. So I’ll fight my heart out to support Democrats up and down the ticket in 2024. But I’m not willing to wait until we have a different Congress to pass important bills and get things done for the American people. And even with Republicans controlling the House, there are still some places where the door is open to making real change. So I’ve been doing everything I can to get things done. I’ve teamed up with Republican colleagues in the Senate on reining in Big Tech. And on clawing back bonuses from executives who ran their big banks into the ground. I’m also working with the Biden-Harris administration to keep delivering student debt relief. To keep cracking down on junk fees. To bring home our fight to ban noncompete agreements and secure stronger overtime pay. To keep putting more money and power in the hands of working people. I refuse to throw my hands up and wait until January 2025 to try to make progress. We must keep fighting with what we have — and I’m running for re-election to keep making progress in 2024, 2025, and beyond. Will you chip in $5 or anything you can to make sure I can continue this work in the Senate? If you've saved payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will process automatically: DONATE NOW: $15 DONATE NOW: $28 DONATE NOW: $50 DONATE NOW: $100 DONATE NOW: $250 OTHER AMOUNT We need to defend and expand our Senate majority, retake the House, and re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2024 — because everything we’re fighting for would be a whole lot easier if we had more champions for working people in office. And if the GOP gains any more power in November, they’ll work to pass their extremist agenda and actively reverse all the progress we’ve made together. Democrats win when we go out there and fight for the bold action that families need. But winning majorities is not enough. We need to use those majorities to pass plans that truly transform the lives of working people in this country. So I’m fighting my heart out to get as much done as possible with the Congress we have now. And I’m working to elect more Democrats up and down the ballot so we can expand our majorities, end the filibuster, and get more on the table and passed. And I won’t be doing it alone. I’ll be fighting alongside a grassroots movement — this grassroots movement. I'm deeply grateful for your support in this fight — and powering our campaign from the grassroots level makes an important difference. So if you’re able to, will you pitch in $5 or whatever makes sense to support my re-election so we can continue making progress for working people? I would be incredibly grateful. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth

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Here’s where we are on student debt cancellation.....

Usually, progress doesn’t follow a straight line. It takes twists and turns. It comes with stops and starts. But if we keep at it, we can make real change. And student debt cancellation is a prime example. Naysayers dismissed it as pie-in-the-sky. A far-right Supreme Court laid down giant roadblocks. But families are now getting relief, with more on the way. It can be hard to keep track of all the latest developments, so here’s a quick summary: President Biden has now delivered $153 billion in student loan relief to 4.3 million borrowers, including nurses, teachers, and other public servants who’ve been paying down their debt for years and years already. He’s launched a new income-driven repayment plan with 8 million enrollees, where most borrowers pay $0 a month. And he just announced new proposals that would bring the grand total of Americans receiving relief to 30 million. Even though right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court substituted their own ideology for the rule of law and blocked the president’s broad-based student debt cancellation plan, he’s still finding ways to lift this crushing burden off people’s shoulders. And even though critics and cynics claimed that student debt relief was impossible when we first started talking about it, it’s now making a real difference in millions of Americans’ lives. With millions more to come. Experts kept illuminating how student loan debt was holding people back from launching new businesses, becoming homeowners, and even starting a family. Borrowers kept sharing their personal stories. Activists and activists kept up the pressure on Washington. I kept working alongside colleagues and organizers and this whole grassroots team. Together, we took student debt cancellation from “impossible” to $153 billion of debt canceled — and counting. We can keep following that same roadmap to make more change that reaches more families. Like ensuring universal child care. And tackling the housing affordability crisis. And making technical schools, community colleges, and public universities tuition-free. It starts with growing our grassroots movement, person to person, one grassroots contribution at a time. Can you pitch in with a donation right now to keep up the fight for bold reforms that touch people’s lives? If you've saved payment info with ActBlue Express, your donation will process automatically: DONATE NOW: $15 DONATE NOW: $28 DONATE NOW: $50 DONATE NOW: $100 DONATE NOW: $250 OTHER AMOUNT Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth

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