“Bad Blood” Between Ticketmaster and Swifties: How Taylor Swift’s Ticket Sales Are Raising Legal Concerns

After releasing four albums in three years with no tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor Swift officially announced “The Eras Tour” on November 1, 2022. The highly anticipated tour kicks off in March 2023 and will cover 52 U.S. cities in four months, making this Swift’s largest concert tour ever. Over 3.5 million people registered for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan presale, which allowed Capital One cardholders and certain verified fans to purchase concert tickets days before the general public. Within hours of the presale going live on November 15, Ticketmaster crashed after a record-high number of 3.5 billion system requests. 2.4 million tickets were sold during the presale but due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand”, Ticketmaster announced that the general public sale for tickets had been canceled. Days later, Ticketmaster issued a formal apology to Swift and her fans. The company explained how technical difficulties prevented the site from being able to handle the massive influx of visitors, but the ticketing industry may have a bigger problem on its hands.

“I Knew You Were Trouble”: Past and Present Legal Issues

Many fans aired their frustrations about the ticket sales on social media. One fan compared the sale to the Hunger Games, tweeting, “Who’s going to the quarter quell (capital one presale).” Given Swift’s worldwide influence, the Ticketmaster controversy caught the attention of several politicians and lawmakers. U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, wrote a letter to Ticketmaster President and CEO, Michael Rapino, expressing her concerns about competition in the ticketing industry and its harms. Klobuchar wrote that “reports about system failures, increasing fees, and complaints of conduct … suggest that Ticketmaster [is abusing] its market positions.” This is not the first time Ticketmaster has been the subject of legal investigations. In 2010, President Obama approved a merger between the world’s largest concert promoter at the time, Live Nation, and the biggest ticket provider, Ticketmaster.  David Balto, former policy director of the Federal Trade Commission and a public interest antitrust lawyer, warned against the merger out of fear that because “Ticketmaster holds a monopoly in the ticket sales market,” the merger with Live Nation would lead to "less choice and higher prices.” More specifically, section 7 of the Clayton Act prevents mergers whose primary effect may be to substantially lessen competition, or to tend to create a monopoly.” The U.S. Department of Justice allowed the merger but under a settlement of conditions that prevented the new parent company, Live Nation Entertainment Inc., from requiring Ticketmaster sales to host a Live Nation concert. Despite widespread pushback from antitrust regulators, Live Nation Entertainment Inc., has since thrived as the primary ticketing business since 2010, dominating over 80% of the market share. 12 years after the merger, concerns have arisen once again. Several politicians, including Klobuchar, have called on the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to investigate Ticketmaster’s prominent position in the industry and the potential violation of antitrust laws. The Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights has also announced plans to hold a hearing to discuss further.

“Karma”: What Happens Next?

Politicians and lawmakers are not the only ones gearing up to go to court. As of December 4, 25 fans have filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster for alleged breach of contract, intentional misrepresentation, fraud, fraudulent inducement and several antitrust violations. The lawsuit focuses on Ticketmaster’s alleged violation of California’s Business and Professions Code, section 17200. Section 17200 defines unfair competition as  “any unlawful, unfair or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising.” Each plaintiff is seeking a penalty of $2,500 and lawyers will have to prove that Ticketmaster is pressuring fans to use their platform exclusively for ticket sales, and then charging above what the market price would be. The lawsuit will also investigate the use of “scalpers” and “bots” that mislead consumers into believing there are more tickets available than there actually are. Overall, the conversation about the power of monopolies and the enforcement of antitrust laws in the entertainment industry are far from over and Ticketmaster’s ticket sale fiasco is just the beginning.