The Ticketmaster platform described the rush to the Taylor Swift tour as “historically unprecedented”. Millions of fans scrambled to snag a ticket at a first presale, open only to select followers. An equally historically unprecedented chaos was the result, which even reached the high echelons of US politics.
Only “verified” fans who had previously been selected by lottery were allowed to take part in the advance sale. As the BBC reports, this procedure should prevent commercial ticket dealers and bots from getting tickets for the 52 dates in total. Nevertheless, the tickets appeared a little later on resale sites for horrendous sums, the current black market price for a Taylor Swift show is 88,200 euros (stern reported).
The Swifties, as the singer’s fans call themselves, report long waiting times – sometimes they should have waited up to eight hours. In addition, the website crashed regularly. Such scenarios are not uncommon at Ticketmaster. Periodically there are complaints about high prices, exorbitant fees and scarce ticket availability. British comedian John Oliver ranks Ticketmaster among the “most hated companies in the world” according to the BBC. The problems increased especially after the company bought the concert promoter “Live Nation” in 2010. A merger that was viewed critically from the start.
After the merger, Ticketmaster was subject to state supervision. This was extended after regulators found the company had breached the terms of the agreement. The ticket marketer would abuse its monopoly position, it is said again and again. That’s the opinion of Democratic Congressman David Cicilline, who chairs the House Committee on Competition and Antitrust. “Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and fees are totally unacceptable, as evidenced by today’s Taylor Swift tickets, they are a symptom of a larger problem,” the politician wrote on Twitter. Ticketmaster is an unexamined monopoly.
Left Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez added: “The merger with Live Nation should never have been approved.” The problem is well known even to President Joe Biden, who announced that the government would review concert ticket prices. Meanwhile, a coalition of artists is waging a campaign to break up Ticketmaster. One is confident that the outrage of the fan community will help to put the necessary pressure on those responsible, according to the organization.
Neither Taylor Swift herself nor Ticketmaster have commented on the difficulties. The pre-sale should go into the next round on Friday. For fans, this probably means the next ticket chaos.
Sources:BBC, “Watson”
