Musical artist Kid Rock testified during a U.S. Senate subcommittee hearing on Wednesday about ticketing fees, resale practices, and what he described as widespread abuse and lack of artist control in the live entertainment industry.
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy held a hearing, titled “Fees Rolled on All Summer Long: Examining the Live Entertainment Industry” to discuss “live performance ticket sale practices, fees charged by primary and secondary sellers, and the prevalence of automated bots that rapidly buy up tickets, a practice making it harder for some fans to buy list price tickets or attend events.”
Kid Rock said during his testimony he believes “music fans and artists have been getting screwed for far too long by the ticketing system.”
WATCH: @KidRock opening statement at Senate Commerce Cmte hearing on concert ticket fees. pic.twitter.com/0DvhoeNTFI
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 28, 2026
During his opening statement, the artist emphasized his independence from industry influence, stating, “I’m in a unique position to testify because, unlike most of my peers, I am beholden to no one. No record label. No manager. No corporate endorsements or deals.”
“To put it plainly, I ain’t scared to speak out on these issues like many artists, managers and agents are. I’m also not here for personal gain. I’m here because hard-working Americans who love live music deserve better, and because artists deserve control over their own work,” he said.
Kid Rock argued that ticketing abuse has been a known problem for decades, noting that artists like Pearl Jam warned Congress long before the 2009 Live Nation–Ticketmaster merger, which was sold as an “experiment” that would benefit artists and fans but instead “failed miserably.”
Live Nation Entertainment, now the parent company of Ticketmaster, is the world’s largest live entertainment company.
Kid Rock said the merger has crushed independent venues, weakened artists, and led to higher prices for fans. The singer emphasized that regardless of whether the companies are broken up, artists should not be forced to sell tickets without control over who sells them and how their own inventory is handled.
“What other business in America doesn’t control or have a say in its own inventory? If artists had real choice, real competition would follow. And tickets would end up in the hands of real fans—at the prices the artists set,” he said.
Kid Rock laid out three core solutions: artists should have full control over who sells their tickets and how they are sold; resale price caps should be used to protect fans from inflated secondary-market prices, and existing laws like the Bots Act should be actively enforced to stop brokers and bad actors and impose serious penalties.
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
Tennessee U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn, who chairs the subcommittee, appeared alongside Kid Rock on Fox News, where she described the live entertainment ticketing concerns as a “consumer protection issue.”
“We want fans to be able to go to concerts, shows, sporting events, and enjoy those and not be ripped off by resellers,” Blackburn said.
Kid Rock was one of four witnesses who testified on Wednesday, alongside Brian Berry, executive director of the Ticket Policy Forum; Dan Wall, executive vice president of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs at Live Nation Entertainment; and David Weingarden, chair and co-founder of the Colorado Independent Venue Association and vice president for Concerts and Events at Z2 Entertainment.
Watch the hearing:
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
