Tennessee AG Investigating Antitrust Violations in Taylor Swift Ticket Presale

[MessyTop 14,387]

Tennessee AG Investigating Antitrust Violations in Taylor Swift Ticket Presale

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is investigating consumer complaints about chaos during the presale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s concert tour.

Skrmetti said in a press conference today that antitrust violations “could be an issue” regarding Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment Inc. The two control more than 70% of the primary ticketing and live event venues market, according to consumer groups, and Skrmetti said he’s concerned a lack of competition has led to a poor experience and higher prices for consumers. So far, Ticketmaster and Live Nation have not been accused of misconduct. 
 

Since Swift announced “The Eras Tour,” there’s been a rush to land a ticket to one of her shows. Fans were asked to register on the Ticketmaster website for the chance to nab a presale code, and many received only a waitlist notification instead. Soon after the presale window opened, the Ticketmaster website crashedunder what it said was “unprecedented demand.” West Coast sales were delayed from 10 a.m. local time to 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

“As an industry player, you would think Ticketmaster would be prepared,” Skrmetti said about the volume of customer interest. “Because they have a dominant position, they may have thought they didn’t need to worry about that. This could be an indicator that there’s not enough competition in the market.”

A representative for Ticketmaster didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. In a tweet yesterday, Ticketmaster acknowledged the issues consumers faced. 
 

Complaints about the sales snafus prompted Democratic New York Congresswoman  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to tweet that the 2010 merger between Ticketmaster, a leader in ticket sales, and Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the largest concert promoter, shouldn’t have been permitted. Representative David Cicilline said in a tweet that Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and fees as seen Tuesday “are a symptom of a larger problem.”

Skrmetti didn’t provide the exact number of complaints he received, but said several pointed to the “severe lack of customer support,” adding that some customers said Ticketmaster told them to wait five days before they would get a response. He also questioned whether Ticketmaster delivered on its promises to fans who registered, particularly when it came to providing presale codes. 
 

source: 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-16/ticketmaster-s-taylor-swift-presale-investigated-by-tennessee-ag

[TortureMeOnReplay 5,892]

I feel like if anybody could have used a different platform and promoter it would be Taylor or Ariana. I wonder if the other companies are just that bad on an artist side. 

[MessyTop 14,387]

 

[TheFame Monster 8,779]

52 minutes ago, TortureMeOnReplay said:

I feel like if anybody could have used a different platform and promoter it would be Taylor or Ariana. I wonder if the other companies are just that bad on an artist side. 

Not Ariana. She’s never done a stadium show. Taylor would be the one, but venues have strict rules on who they partner with to sell tickets. But also, the tour is “powered by Capital One” who are partnered with Ticketmaster…

[Tyler1992 2,185]

None of the venues Taylor is playing in are owned by LiveNation, right? It could have been a major **** you to it’s monopoly if she used something else. 

[HIM820 1,770]

He’s a republican too, and we already know how progressive dems will feel about this. Ticketmaster might have royally fed up with this…

[MessyTop 14,387]

I’m surprised by her silence. Not a word. Even fans that got tickets are tired and angry Kroger the abuse and the scamming form Ticketmaster. 

[TortureMeOnReplay 5,892]

4 hours ago, TheFame Monster said:

Not Ariana. She’s never done a stadium show. Taylor would be the one, but venues have strict rules on who they partner with to sell tickets. But also, the tour is “powered by Capital One” who are partnered with Ticketmaster…

I think Ariana would be able to do a stadium show now. I feel like the only reason SWT ended up being a arena tour is because the tour was already planned if not announced by the time TUN came out and she really solidified herself as a huge act. Also, I think the tour is a partner for the tour BECAUSE of Ticketmaster, as in Ticketmaster brought them into it. But I'm sure there's plenty of partners Taylor could have used, including Apple Music. If she had done a Livestream/documentary deal for Apple TV, Apple probably would have shelled out some money to sponsor the tour too.