Week 7 post 1: swift v ticketmaster

 

• Ticketmaster is a monopoly and had sole access to Taylor Swift Eras tour ticket sales 

• Day one of presale websites crashed and people, like myself, had to wait in queues for hours 

• When people were finally able to buy tickets, they were selling faster than we could find them and it was so glitchy people were kicked back into the waiting room 

• On resale markets tickets were going for upwards of $30,000 

• This is not Mr. Perfectly Fine. 

• Ticketmaster merged with live nation in 2010 

• Now one company has management clients, owns venues, owns the ticketing company and is promoting the shows 

• Starting a competitor would be tough. Ticketmaster has invested in technology that usually keeps things running smoothly and helps keep scalper bots away 

• In the case of this tour, Ticketmaster sent out too many verified fan codes, was unprepared for the millions of people on the website despite being responsible for sending the millions of presale codes and crashed. 

• Capital one presale a few days later went similarly 

• 2.4 million tickets were sold presale, and the regular sale was canceled 

• This brought negative attention to Ticketmaster, and many policymakers used it as an opportunity to remind the public of the issues with monopolies 

• Ticketmaster and parent-company Live Nation face a lawsuit from Swifties across the country for “unlawful conduct”  

• The plaintiffs claim that the ticketing giant violated antitrust laws, among others. 

• The lawsuit alleges the company “intentionally and purposely mislead TaylorSwiftTix presale ticket holders by providing codes to 1.4 million ‘verified fans,’” despite the shortage of seats.