Concert ticket sales

The US Department of Justice has launched an antitrust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment, which sold tickets through online venue Ticketmaster, for abuse of power in the live music industry, following a case of record-breaking concert ticket purchases by singer Taylor Swift.

On Thursday, the online venue's press office said ticket sales for the performer's Eras tour concerts had been cancelled due to a frenzy of demand. Pre-sales for the concert tour began earlier this week and more than 2 million tickets were sold in November 15 alone, with activity on the service four times the previous peak.

Much of the lengthy statement associated with the tweet from Ticketmaster around 11:00 p.m. ET on Friday was identical to the one that the company published and then deleted on Thursday, but now with an apology recently posted at the beginning. The version of the "Declaration" corrected the day before did not contain the apology, further incurring the ire of many fans before it was removed from Ticketmaster's website.

Although Swift did not name Ticketmaster in her statement, she did mention "she", leaving no doubt who she meant. "There are many reasons why it has been so difficult for people to get tickets and I am trying to see how this situation can be improved in the future," she wrote.

In an amended statement released on Friday night, Ticketmaster continued to strongly emphasise the positives, arguing that the vetted fan programme, which adds extra steps to the ticket queue, has been particularly successful in preventing tickets falling into the hands of speculators. "Less than 5% of tour tickets were sold or put up for resale on the secondary market," the company said.

Reiterating its earlier language, Ticketmaster suggested that the ticket launch was not "perfect" without going too far into guilt.

Also, staff from the antitrust division of the US Department of Justice have been contacting concert venues and ticketing players over the past few months and have taken an interest in Live Nation's activities and what is happening in the industry as a whole. One source said the investigation is broad in nature, seeking to find out whether Live Nation maintains a monopoly in the industry.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on the reports.