If there is one thing Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Live Nation and its more famous subsidiary Ticketmaster made clear, it’s that almost everyone hates Ticketmaster. Republicans and Democrats competed to attack the live entertainment behemoth. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) called the company “the definition of a monopoly,” while Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R-La.) called the company’s handling of Taylor Swift’s ticket sale last fall “a debacle.” “I’mnot against big, per se,” he said. “I’m against dumb.”

It’s not just because everyone loves Swift (though they should!). It’s that the company — which dominates the live entertainment business — offers a potent demonstration of how all of us except the wealthiest and most powerful are taken advantage of in our unequal economy, and how powerless we are to stop it from happening.

The hearing occurred because of the rage of Swift fans over Ticketmaster’s disastrous rollout of tickets for her widely anticipated “Eras” tour, which begins in March. Promised presale access, they found that it took hours to get into Ticketmaster’s website. Then, many discovered tickets to be unavailable, or dynamic pricing, or scalpers pushing the asking price into four figures. Instead of tickets, Swifties received a crash course in how little they mattered.

“What we’ve seen with Live Nation and Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift, specifically, is that this was the first time for many people [to understand] the impact of monopoly power. The impacts of monopoly power mean you won’t get great service, because monopoly doesn’t care,” said Morgan Harper, director of policy and advocacy for the American Economic Liberties Project. “If you are a fan or a small-business owner, you just have to take it.”

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