In September, the Federal Trade Commission sued behemoth concert promoter Live Nation and its corporate sibling, the gargantuan ticketing business Ticketmaster, accusing the company of colluding with aftermarket ticketbrokers to allow for multiple sales on the Ticketmaster platform and drive up the price of tickets. The suit followed last year's Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, in which the federal government is attempting to break up Live Nation/Ticketmaster's monopoly over the live music business.
One big supporter of this effort on the right wing has been Kid Rock. The rap-rocker and country singer, a longtime ally of Donald Trump, has loudly advocated against Live Nation and Ticketmaster in recent years, describing their business practice as "highway robbery" and a monopoly that needs to be broken up. Rock was present in the Oval Office this past spring when Trump signed an executive order directing the FTC to investigate Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Now, it turns out he has more to say about the subject.
In a video laced with f-bombs posted to his socials Tuesday, Rock said those who dismissed Trump's executive order as meaningless grandstanding were wrong, citing the FTC's lawsuit as the fruit of that order. He said Live Nation and Ticketmaster have the power to root out bots but aren't doing it because resale activity at inflated prices benefits them financially. And he urged his peers in the music industry to speak out in support of the FTC's lawsuit, including the famously liberal Pearl Jam, who crusaded against Ticketmaster in the '90s.
"Let's see if Pearl Jam steps up," Rock said near the end of his video. "They wanted to fix ticketing years ago. They probably won’t, because they’ll be like, 'Oh, we hate Donald Trump. We have Trump derangement syndrome.' All these other presidents could have fucking done something. Bush, Obama, Clinton, they didn’t do shit. Nobody has. Trump is. We are. So, calling your bluffs right now, let’s see what happens. Rock on."
Here's what Rock had to say:
So there was some of the people in the business talking about ticketing, that when Trump — President Trump — did that executive order with me in the Oval Office, that these, know-it-alls out in California were like, "Oh, they’re just showboating. It really did nothing."
What he did was he ordered the FTC & the Department of Justice to go investigate and see what the hell is going on with ticketing. Well guess what? They investigated and what happened? They filed a fucking lawsuit against Ticketmaster. Because clearly they found out that those motherfuckers are crooks, and they’ve been crooks for decades. Fucking over the public, fucking over artists.
Now somehow, can I flip this phone around. Somehow, I got one of these world orbs, and that proves you’re a human. Comes with an app —World app, — you download it, proof of human, proof of humanity. This thing would cut the bots out, cut the scalpers out immediately. Somehow, I got one in my fucking house. But the ticketing companies can’t figure this out. You know why? Because every time… if you buy a ticket and go to a concert, you are their worst customer.
They want that ticket to resell on their own platform so they can fuck everybody twice. They get the service charges. They get another whatever, 17% or something, on top all the other horseshit they’re dicking you around with. So like I said from the beginning, I don’t know if breaking Ticketmaster up solves the problem. I’m not sure if this orb solves it, but it’s a step in the right direction.
I know this, none of the ticketing companies, are using it. Somehow I got one in my fucking house, but they can’t figure it out. They’re full of shit. They could have stopped the bots years ago. They could have fixed this fucking problem, and they haven’t, because they’re greedy fucks.
So I hope they all go down personally, right to the fucking bottom. Fuck them. And I hope we can figure out ticketing so us as artists, when we set a price we can get the tickets into the hands of the fans at the prices we set. And I know that’s not really the… I’m a capitalist to the bone, and there’s some questions there. But these bad actors and all the ticketing companies — not even scalpers, brokers, whatever you want to call them — they’ve hid behind the disguise of capitalism for years. Fuck 'em.
This is one that we need some regulations on, either a price cap, I’d say 10%, you can’t resell a ticket for 10%, 10-15% like they do in some European countries. Or use this proof of human thing, whatever it takes. I shouldn’t be the one to figure it out. These motherfuckers should, but they haven’t. They’ve raped us for fucking years. Fuck 'em. I hope they all go down.
But really what hope for is we can fix ticketing for the fans. And by the way, they’ve been fucking the artists too, but I’m kind of second in that equation. I want the fans to be able to go to a show at the prices I set for my tickets, and most artists do.
We’ll see if any other artists get onboard, by the way, with this lawsuit and their management, if they want to talk and tell them about the bullshit that’s going on for decades. A lot of them will puss out, straight up pussies, all these outlaw country singers. There’ll be a bunch of fucking pussies when they should speak up for their fans.
Let's see if Pearl Jam steps up. They wanted to fix ticketing years ago. They probably won’t, because they’ll be like, "Oh, we hate Donald Trump. We have Trump derangement syndrome." All these other presidents could have fucking done something. Bush, Obama, Clinton, they didn’t do shit. Nobody has. Trump is. We are. So, calling your bluffs right now, let’s see what happens. Rock on.
You can watch him actually say these things in the video below.
