Taylor Swift could be at the forefront of a concert ticketing revolution.
Swift released tickets for her highly anticipated new tour through Ticketmaster last month, leaving many irate Swifties stranded.
Fans of music stars such as Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Rage Against The Machine, Garth Brooks, and others have long criticised the company, expressing their dissatisfaction with the ticket-buying process.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted, “Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved”; Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., expressed similar concerns, and Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti promised to launch an anti-trust investigation in response to consumer complaints.
Swift fans, however, may have another opportunity to see the pop star. Let’s get into the ticket saga:
What is the situation with Ticketmaster?
The Justice Department is reportedly expanding its investigation into Ticketmaster, the ticketing behemoth that controls entry to the vast majority of the country’s live events, and its parent company Live Nation, which merged in 2010 to form a management and ticketing juggernaut that critics have argued is a monopoly that harms fans, artists, and venue owners alike.
According to The New York Times, the Justice Department has launched an antitrust investigation into Ticketmaster.
Live Nation, which focuses on talent management, owns the company.
According to the report, Justice Department lawyers have inquired about Live Nation’s overall practises with both ticket-selling competitors and venues. When the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger was approved in 2010, Justice Department officials stated that Live Nation could not use its power to threaten venues into using Ticketmaster for ticket sales. However, a department investigation in 2019 discovered that the company had violated that agreement. New constraints were imposed.
‘We asked them multiple times if they could handle this kind of demand,’ Taylor Swift says.
Ticketmaster cancelled a scheduled Nov. 18 general sale due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory” after a days-long presale ticket frenzy that saw major delays, errors, and pauses in the queues to purchase tickets.
Swift issued a strong statement on social media, assuring fans that it “really pisses me off” that many of them went to great lengths to get tickets only to be disappointed.
“There are a variety of reasons why people had such a difficult time trying to get tickets, and I’m trying to figure out how to improve this situation moving forward,” Swift added.
“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we repeatedly asked them if they could handle this kind of demand and were assured they could.”
From March to August 2023, the Eras tour will stop in 52 cities across the United States.
Taylor Swift fans have another opportunity to purchase Eras tour tickets.
On December 12, some Swift fans who had previously registered for the Verified Fan presale received an invitation from Ticketmaster to “an additional opportunity to purchase tickets.”
Fans who have been notified will receive additional information before December 23, with invitations staggered by tour dates in each city.
After submitting a ticket request, fans will be notified and charged if their tickets have been confirmed.
Ticketmaster provided additional information in a FAQ on its official blog.
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