Ticketmaster parent company sued after Taylor Swift concert debacle

BY MIKEALA ALDREDGE ASST. B&T EDITOR

Taylor Swift announced in November her long awaited Eras Tour, a five-month cross-country tour with multiple musical guests. Along with this announcement, dates for pre-sale code registration were announced by Ticketmaster.

More than 3.5 million fans registered for a verified fan code, according to Ticketmaster, but on the day of the pre-sale, it all came crashing down.

Ticketmaster distributed more codes than expected, and as a result its website crashed and stadiums sold out before the general sale had even begun. The situation left fans who had codes but did not receive the chance to get tickets devastated. It also left no chance for fans who relied on the general sale to get tickets.

Amelia Brenes, junior political science and Christian studies double major, was one of the fans attempting to snag tickets with a pre-sale code.

“It was the most stressful experience in my life,” Brenes said. “It felt unorganized. They sent out too many codes. When you were in the queue, it would kick you out. When it happened, Ticketmaster gave up.”

On Jan. 24, the Senate began a hearing questioning Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, after many Taylor Swift fans began to protest and sue Live Nation over the pre-sale fiasco, according to The New York Times.

A CNN article about the hearing stated that Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold said he blames the situation in part on bots. He said the website got hit with three times more tra c than it normally has. However, CNN reported that there is no evidence of bots being the problem.

“In this specific instance, the interference of the bots as described by the CEO in hearings held in Congress recently could have been an uncontrolled variable,” said Dr. Greg Bowden, professor of organizational leadership. “We have noted that the malware epi- demic online has a ected us all. With the increase in spam, phishing and DDOS on the various web services we have experienced recently, all online vendors are struggling with the validity and authenticity of the digital communications they receive.”

Ticketmaster is known to dominate the ticketing industry, as they are larger than other ticket companies, such as SeatGeek. CEO of SeatGeek Joe Groetzinger told Congress what he thinks about Live Nation Entertainment.

“Live Nation controls the most popular entertainers in the world, routes most of the large tours, operates the ticketing systems and even owns many of the venues,” said Groetzinger during the hearing. “This power over the entire live entertainment industry allows Live Nation to maintain its monopolistic influence over the primary ticketing market.”

Groetzinger also said that venues are afraid to lose Live Nation’s partnership if they do not use Ticketmaster for their ticket sales. Although Groetzinger said that venues are afraid to lose such a powerful company, Berchtold said that they do not place a number of tickets and how much the tickets will be, it is up to the venues.

Dr. Kenneth Minesinger, professor of law, shared his opinion on whether Ticketmaster and Live Nation are a monopoly.

“That’s really for the courts to decide, assuming the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) determines their conduct violates the FTC Act, Sherman Act or Clayton Act,” Minesinger said.

The Federal Trade Commission Act prevents unfair methods of competition and creates rules to prevent that.

The Sherman Antitrust Act outlaws monopolization and the Clayton Antitrust Act prohibits mergers to prevent the creation of a monopoly. All of these acts could be used in court against Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment.

Bowden said that Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s hold on the industry has taken the power of the music industry away from artists.

“With the development of the internet and the free distribution opportunities of digital files, performing artists have lost control of their artistic creations, and the chance to perform live concerts has been monetized to the benefit of the production and talent companies,” Bowden said.

In the end, consumers are the ones paying the price. Presale code holders were not guaranteed tickets, but with such a demand for a popular artist like Swift, too many codes were given out.

Toward the end of the hearing, no easy answers emerged about how this situation can be fixed and what to do to prevent it from happening again. However, Minesinger o ered some potential solutions.

“The performers could demand change to protect consumers, or Congress and the FTC could enact additional regulation,” Minesinger said.

“I’m not sure how e ective either would be and might have the unintended consequence of driving up costs.”

The hearings are still continuing with no verdict for Ticketmaster and Live Nation yet. This problem could continue in the future, with other high-demand artists and tours like Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour on sale during February. This fiasco could determine the future of ticket sales not just for companies but for consumers as well.

“This example mirrors the model of Je Bezos — to look at complex systems and use the power of technology to automate and create savings from an economy of scale,” Bowden said. “So it comes down to this: Are the fans more willing to lose convenience and have more sites and steps to access their favorite artists’ performances, or will convenience take the day and require regulation to ensure an equitable access experience for all? I think we are all waiting for the answer to that question.”

*Information according to Billboard

The monopoly of Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster has brought in record high revenue sales.

Outcome

Consumers cannot get tickets to the artists they want to see. There is an unlevel playing field for ticket companies trying to make it to Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s level, but they can not reach it.

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BY KRISTIE WISEMAN ASST. B&T EDITOR

It is estimated that over two billion people across the world su er from vision problems, according to an article from healthnews.com. Additionally, 14 million people have been diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder and struggle with mobility impairments, and chronic pain has been reported by more than 50 million people.

What do all these things have in common? Each has been positively impacted by bionic technology. Dr. Seung-Jae Kim, professor of bioengineering, said bionic technology can be described as the application of engineering in medicine.

“We use technology and engineering to develop something that can restore, assist or augment the functions of the human body,” Kim said. “The objective is to improve motor or sensory functions for people with disabilities and to enhance general human performance.” electrodes that are implanted in the brain, optic nerve or eye. The electrodes then stimulate the functional visual pathway, allowing the individual to perceive light. At this point, the technology is unable to allow the individual to see in color. Their sight will be limited to shades of black and white. However, it is still enough to provide a meaningful image. beyond helping those with disabilities.

One recent advance in the realm of bionic technology is neural prosthetics. These devices use our natural neural pathways to return sight to those with vision problems.

As the field of bionic technology continues to grow, new advances could allow color perception in neural prosthetics. It could also improve the use of exoskeletons, a wearable device for people struggling with movement impairments, such as neuromuscular disorders or spinal cord injuries. Movement becomes much more feasible with an exoskeleton reminiscent of the beloved Iron Man suit.

“Advanced robotic technology will be integrated into the development of the exoskeleton, which can be used not only for the purpose of restoring lost body functions, but it also makes industrial labor much easier to do,” Kim said. Bionic technology has great potential to improve motor and sensory functions for people with disabilities. It can also ease the strain of manual labor, preventing associated injuries.

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“Retinal implants provide means to electrically stimulate the remaining nerve cells in the retina,” Kim said. “An external camera mounted on glasses converts the visual image to an appropriate electrical stimulation delivered to an array of electrodes implanted in the retina. The stimulation makes the brain perceive patterns of light, but not color.”

Bionic eyes consist of small

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California are working on just that. Their design would allow the individual to not only walk again, but also feel each step, according to an article in Trojan Family Magazine. These suits are currently being tested on a select group of volunteers. If successful, this suit would give people the chance to do something we often take for granted: walk.

The uses of the suit extend

“As (bionic technology) is further developed, it has the potential to limit risk factors associated with systems that require a physical operation,” said Josiah Norrie, senior mechanical engineering major. “This would particularly be true for the manufacturing industry.” This is just the tip of the iceberg. Bionic technology is being used to make artificial limbs more sensitive, cochlear implants — an implant to help with hearing — more e ective, chronic pain more manageable and much more.

“As bionic technology continues to develop, its limits will continue to grow,” Kim said. “With this technology, we should make clear standards for what to do and what not to do. I hope that Christians will contribute and help set a noble standard for this.”