Ticketmaster, Monopolies, and Biden's Promise To Tackle Junk Fees

Welcome to #Millennial, the home of pretend adulting and real talk! Of course Elon couldn't resist amping up Twitter drama during the Thanksgiving holiday, and we reminisce about the Twitter apocalypse that wasn't. On this week's episode we're doing a deep dive on Ticketmaster, Live Nation, Antitrust laws, and the Biden Justice Department working to address the issue of monopolies. First, all due credit to Taylor Swift, whose Ticketmaster debacle inspired this conversation. We don't know for sure if Biden and Garland are Swifties, but we do know the Department of Justice had already launched an antitrust inquiry into Live Nation Entertainment before Ticketmaster shit the bed on presale tickets for Swift's tour. The Justice Department allowed the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster in 2010, despite cries from the music world and consumers that a monopoly would result. And they were right.  Artists like Ed Sheeran and Garth Brooks have tried to fight back against price gouging and scalping, but with the broad control Live Nation Entertainment has over the live music entertainment market, it will take so much more to truly address these issues. The Biden Justice Department has had surprising success preventing the recent attempted merger of publishing houses Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. Interested in reading more about monopolies and antitrust law? Check out these resources: AT&T Antitrust cases, American Tobacco Company, and more reading on PRH+S&S. The Biden Administration also announced that they're looking to fight 'junk fees' to help fight inflation, beginning with new guidance making it illegal for banks to charge overdraft fees when bank or ATM statements show sufficient balances at the time of a transaction. What junk fees do we want to see the administration take on next? This week's episode is sponsored by Expedition Roasters (https://www.expeditionroasters.com and use code COFFEEGEEKS for 15% off your order). Support #Millennial by supporting our sponsors! And in this week's installment of After Dark, available on Patreon: Since millennials know how to lose their online social media presence, let's explore the social media alternatives to Twitter. We look at popular alternatives Mastodon and Hive. Their platforms may be promising, but will their audiences keep growing? Our gripe: how are we supposed to find our friends and other connections on these new platforms? Pam shows Andrew a Tiktok hack that reveals something surprising! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices