Over 2 Dozen Taylor Swift Fans Sue Ticketmaster for ‘Anticompetitive Conduct,’ Fraud
Following the ordeal of purchasing tickets for Taylor Swift‘s The Eras Tour, over two dozen fans of the singer are suing Live Nation for how Ticketmaster handled ticket sales for the tour. Fans choosing to sue Live Nation regarding Ticketmaster follows the Department of Justice opening an investigation against Live Nation.
What happened when Taylor Swift tickets went on sale
On Nov. 15, a presale for The Eras Tour called the TaylorSwiftTix Presale was held through Ticketmaster Verified Fan. During the presale, Ticketmaster crashed multiple times, and fans were left in queues for hours attempting to buy tickets.
The demand during the TaylorSwiftTix Presale caused Ticketmaster to reschedule the Capital One Exclusive Cardholder Presale from Nov. 15 to Nov. 16. However, even with the rescheduled date, the Capital One Exclusive Cardholder Presale was a point of stress for fans.
A general sale for tickets for The Eras Tour was supposed to begin on Nov. 18, but on Nov. 17, Ticketmaster canceled the sale because of “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”
In a blog post, Ticketmaster explained that 1.5 million people were issued codes for the TaylorSwiftTix Presale, and “the staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have codes drove unprecedented traffic on our site, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests – 4x our previous peak.”
Fans of Taylor Swift are suing Ticketmaster
On Dec. 5, Billboard published a report that fans are suing Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster.
According to Billboard, fans are “accusing the company of ‘anticompetitive conduct,’ fraud and other forms of wrongdoing.”
Over the past few years, there has been a growing discontentment against Ticketmaster and Live Nation when it comes to purchasing concert tickets.
The investigation launched by the Department of Justice was in the works before the presales for The Eras Tour, and according to CBS News, it will investigate if Live Nation is “abusing its market dominance in the ticket industry.”
Following presales for The Eras Tour, multiple politicians spoke out against Ticketmaster, with the U.S. Senate pushing to hold an antitrust hearing.
A look at the lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster
In its report, Billboard published portions of the lawsuit written by the lawyers representing fans of Swift. The lawsuit calls out Ticketmaster for its pricing and for allowing scalpers to purchase tickets during the presales that are geared toward fans.
“In markets without a singular, monopolistic company, charging prices and fees like Ticketmaster would be impossible,” lawyers wrote according to Billboard.
In a statement referencing scalpers and resale tickets, lawyers wrote, “Ticketmaster claimed that only those with codes would be able to join the presale, but millions of buyers without codes were able to get tickets. Many of those without codes were scalpers, and Ticketmaster benefited from scalped tickets as they must be resold on Ticketmaster, who gets an additional fee.”
Only time with tell if this lawsuit brought on by fans of Swift will be successful in changing anything regarding ticket sales.
