Taylor Swift presale disaster sparks investigations into Ticketmaster over possible antitrust violations
Ticketmaster and Live Nation are being investigated by Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti after the chaotic and disastrous presale event for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, which saw “historically unprecedented demand.”
Amidst the overwhelming rush to secure tickets, customers were furious at the website crash, incredibly long waits in line despite receiving a special presale code, and delays in customer service response.
Further fan anger fueled high prices and additional fees set by Ticketmaster, in part to prevent scalpers and bots from acquiring all tickets. Standard ticket prices set by Swift range from $49 to $449, while VIP tickets range from $199 to $899.
Before the main sale even began, however, resale tickets started popping up – up to $28,000, such was the desperation to see the 11-time Grammy winner.
Skrmetti said his office saw a “number of complaints” that prompted an investigation, a look at customer service, and even possible antitrust violations on the grounds that the two companies together hold a monopoly in the industry — up to 70% of it According to Bloomberg, the market for tickets and venues.
“There are currently no allegations of wrongdoing, but as Attorney General, it’s my job to ensure that Tennessee’s consumer protection and antitrust laws are followed,” he said.
monopolization of the market
Ticketmaster defended itself in a tweet acknowledging the issues, but Skrmetti said that didn’t resolve the situation: “As an industry player, you’d think Ticketmaster would be prepared… Since they’re dominant, they might have thought they weren’t.” do has to take care of it. This could be an indicator that there is not enough competition in the market.”
“We’re looking for a company with an extremely dominant market share,” he added. “Any time you have such a concentration of market share, there is a risk that the lack of competition will not only drive up prices for consumers. it will also decrease the quality of the product.”
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the Swift debacle with a tweet criticizing Ticketmaster’s 2010 acquisition of Live Nation. “A daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they must be curbed,” she wrote. “Break them.”
Skrmetti said: “Possibly this is a situation where the quality of the product is reduced, where the infrastructure provided for ticket sales is not up to the level that consumers deserve, because we are not talking about a company that needs to do that compete a lot to get consumer dollars.”
Taylor Swift’s 2023 Eras Tour will be her biggest yet following the recent release of her album Midnights. It will take place in 52 cities across the US and is their first tour since 2018.
Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter will examine how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of today’s leaders – and how best to address these challenges. Subscribe here.
