To incur the wrath of the Swifties on social media is no snow-on-the-beach rarity, but they're ready to fight their biggest monster on the hill yet: Ticketmaster.
A group of Taylor Swift fans have filed a lawsuit against the ticketing giant over the absolute disaster that was last month's ticket sale for The Eras Tour. After botching the presale for the pop star's 2023 stadium trek, Ticketmaster cancelled the public on-sale "due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand," according to the company.
The plaintiffs are suing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment for "fraud, price-fixing and antitrust violations," as per the suit filed in a Los Angeles court, which you can read here [via Deadline].
The document gives a synopsis of Ticketmaster's monopoly in the live music industry; "Taylor Swift and other popular musicians have no choice but to work through Ticketmaster," the collective points out, "because no other venue can hold half as many people as the stadiums and venues working through Ticketmaster."
They're asking the court to fine Live Nation $2,500 USD per violation, alleging that "intentional deception" on behalf of the ticketing service enabled scalpers to purchase the majority of tickets to increase profits with the extra fees involved in reselling through Ticketmaster's internal marketplace. The company allegedly likewise "allowed [Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant] seats to be sold without verification of disability or need, thus depriving individuals with disabilities access [to] ADA-compliant seats."
The Swifties at Law further contend that even if there was no intentional connivance, Ticketmaster simply was not prepared to meet the demand (reportedly a record-breaking 3.5 million people), echoing Swift's own accusations.
"I'm not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could," she wrote in her statement on the incident. "It's truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them felt like they went through several bear attacks to get them."
Live Nation is currently under investigation by the United States Department of Justice — an inquiry focused on whether it has "abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry" [via The New York Times]. However, the decision to open an investigation into Ticketmaster's parent company was apparently made prior to The Eras Tour fiasco.
A group of Taylor Swift fans have filed a lawsuit against the ticketing giant over the absolute disaster that was last month's ticket sale for The Eras Tour. After botching the presale for the pop star's 2023 stadium trek, Ticketmaster cancelled the public on-sale "due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand," according to the company.
The plaintiffs are suing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment for "fraud, price-fixing and antitrust violations," as per the suit filed in a Los Angeles court, which you can read here [via Deadline].
The document gives a synopsis of Ticketmaster's monopoly in the live music industry; "Taylor Swift and other popular musicians have no choice but to work through Ticketmaster," the collective points out, "because no other venue can hold half as many people as the stadiums and venues working through Ticketmaster."
They're asking the court to fine Live Nation $2,500 USD per violation, alleging that "intentional deception" on behalf of the ticketing service enabled scalpers to purchase the majority of tickets to increase profits with the extra fees involved in reselling through Ticketmaster's internal marketplace. The company allegedly likewise "allowed [Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant] seats to be sold without verification of disability or need, thus depriving individuals with disabilities access [to] ADA-compliant seats."
The Swifties at Law further contend that even if there was no intentional connivance, Ticketmaster simply was not prepared to meet the demand (reportedly a record-breaking 3.5 million people), echoing Swift's own accusations.
"I'm not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could," she wrote in her statement on the incident. "It's truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them felt like they went through several bear attacks to get them."
Live Nation is currently under investigation by the United States Department of Justice — an inquiry focused on whether it has "abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry" [via The New York Times]. However, the decision to open an investigation into Ticketmaster's parent company was apparently made prior to The Eras Tour fiasco.
