Country rock star Kid Rock testified before a Senate subcommittee Wednesday, slamming the live entertainment industry’s ticketing practices as a “complete fiasco” that has left fans paying outrageous prices and artists getting shortchanged for decades. The hearing, led by Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), focused on skyrocketing fees, corporate monopolies like Live Nation-Ticketmaster, and bot-driven scalping issues Kid Rock said have been ignored despite warnings going back 30 years.
Kid Rock pulled no punches, telling the committee he’s in a “unique position to testify” because he’s “beholden to no one, no record companies, no managers, no corporate endorsements or deals.” He said most artists and managers are too afraid to speak out “for fear of biting the hand that feeds them,” but he isn’t.
He ripped into the 2010 merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster, which was sold to Congress as a win for artists and fans but has instead crushed independent venues, stripped leverage from performers, and driven ticket prices to insane levels with no benefit to musicians. “Thirty years ago, members of Pearl Jam sat in these same seats warning Congress about ticketing abuse,” Kid Rock said. “In 2009, Congress was told—under oath—that merging Live Nation and Ticketmaster would benefit artists and fans. Needless to say, that experiment has failed miserably.”
He highlighted “mountains of fraud” in the secondary market, bots scooping up tickets to resell at massive markups, and piracy already threatening artists’ livelihoods. “The economic foundation that supported artists in the past is crumbling,” he added. “Secondary ticketing is driving up prices for the fans with absolutely no benefit to the artist.”
Kid Rock called for real fixes: letting artists set and enforce their own ticket prices, capping resale markups, stronger enforcement of the BOTS Act against automated scalping, and ending the “open market” that lets resellers exploit fans under the guise of capitalism. He dismissed recent reform proposals as weak cover pushed by ticketing lobbyists.
The testimony comes after Kid Rock worked with the Trump administration last year on anti-scalping efforts, including the March 2025 executive order Trump signed directing the DOJ and Treasury to crack down on competition violations, improve price transparency, and enforce existing regulations. He praised that order for getting the ball rolling but said more is needed, especially legislation to get tickets directly from artists to fans at set prices.
