Live Nation legal chief Dan Wall was one of the witnesses at a Wednesday (Jan. 28) hearing held by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation titled, “Fees Rolled on All Summer Long: Examining the Live Entertainment Industry.” A riff on the Kid Rock song “All Summer Long,” the hearing also featured testimony from Rock himself, as well as Ticket Policy Forum director Brian Berry and Colorado Independent Venue Association (CIVA) chair David Weingarden. Kid Rock also recently appeared with Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) on Fox and was vocal spoke about the hearing. Rock also was filmed laughing with Ted Cruz during a visit after the hearing.
Great to have @KidRock stop by my office yesterday! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/fh2wDnCbS3
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) January 29, 2026
The Senate proceeding came due to a bombshell deceptive practices lawsuit filed this fall by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleging that Live Nation subsidiary Ticketmaster has quietly propped up ticket brokers in order to collect fees on its secondary resale platform.
Ticketmaster denies all wrongdoing and has argued that the case is a massive misuse of the BOTS Act, a 2016 law that aims to quash ticket scalping.
Kid Rock reacts
Kid Rock, in a black t-shirt, cow-print lined vest and cowboy hat — said the two live music behemoths “fooled” the government into approving their merger back in 2010. However, Rock said splitting up Live Nation and Ticketmaster won’t alone solve the problem of high ticket prices. He argued that the real solution is legislation imposing a 10% cap on ticket resale prices.
“I’m a capitalist, I’m a deregulation guy, but there’s no other way around this but to put a price cap on this,” testified Rock, who joined Trump in the Oval Office last year for the signing of an executive order ramping up BOTS Act enforcement.
Wall reiterated this stance during his congressional testimony on Wednesday and said Live Nation “consistently stands with artists, with venues and with fans and in opposition to ticket brokers and other resale marketplaces.” He noted that Ticketmaster banned brokers from operating multiple accounts after the FTC lawsuit, and that the company uses the “most sophisticated defenses out there” to fight bots.
Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who said she was “quite disappointed” with what she read in the FTC complaint — specifically an internal Ticketmaster email in which an executive said the companies “turn a blind eye as a matter of policy” to brokers exceeding ticket purchasing limits.
“You have emphatically denied that this conduct had any sort of malfeasance, but I want you to answer: why would you have to turn a blind eye, as your executive put it, if there was no wrongdoing that was taking place?” Blackburn asked Wall.
“I think that was taken very much out of context, senator,” responded Wall. “Our actions speak louder than anything else. We showed up, we walked the walk. We improved our defenses. Our bot defenses are second to none in the world.”
Asked by Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) whether the companies operate a monopoly, Wall answered with an emphatic “no” and reiterated Live Nation’s arguments in court that the DOJ has miscalculated its market share.
Ticketmaster has repeatedly allowed bots and scammers to take tickets away from the loyal fans of artists like @KidRock. I am leading a hearing right now to demand answers from Live Nation on why they are putting scammers before consumers. pic.twitter.com/0GaWgXnVjx
— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) January 28, 2026
