In November 2022, popular singer Taylor Swift announced that she would be going on a new concert tour in support of her recent album Midnights. However, the sale of tickets for Swift’s tour made headlines for negative reasons. There were numerous issues with Ticketmaster, the primary ticketing provider for Swift’s concerts, that led to public outrage over how the tickets were sold.
What happened with Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift’s tour?
When presale tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming The Eras Tour went on sale on November 15, 2022, the Ticketmaster website and app experienced major technical issues. Fans reported wait times of several hours just to access the website, and Ticketmaster’s systems were completely overwhelmed by the high demand. This led to many fans being unable to purchase tickets despite waiting for hours.
In addition, Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, which was intended to give Swift’s most loyal fans first access to tickets, did not work as planned. Fans who received Verified Fan codes from Ticketmaster were not guaranteed tickets. Meanwhile, many bots and resellers were still able to scoop up tickets ahead of actual fans.
Ticketmaster ultimately cancelled the general public on-sale portion of Swift’s tour, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory.” They stated that over 2 million tickets were sold for Swift’s tour during the presales, with demand drastically exceeding supply.
What was the public response?
The backlash against Ticketmaster was swift and severe. Fans complained bitterly on social media about the difficulties getting tickets and Ticketmaster’s lack of preparedness. The hashtag #TicketmasterCanceledTaylor began trending on Twitter as outraged fans accused Ticketmaster of ruining Swift’s tour.
A number of state attorneys general announced investigations into Ticketmaster to determine if they violated any consumer protection laws with the bungled ticket sales. Some politicians called for the company to be broken up, since the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation gave them an outsized influence on the ticketing industry.
Multiple celebrity artists including Bruce Springsteen, Adele, and Billie Eilish spoke out in support of Swift and voiced their own concerns about Ticketmaster’s monopolistic control over ticket sales. Several prominent politicians also weighed in to criticize Ticketmaster.
How did Ticketmaster respond?
Ticketmaster issued several statements in an attempt to explain what went wrong and diffuse public criticism. They claimed that bots and resellers took advantage of presale codes to scoop up tickets, which contributed to real fans being shut out. The company also insisted that Verified Fan does help fight bots and get more tickets directly into the hands of fans.
Additionally, Ticketmaster noted that the site traffic for Swift’s tour was unprecedented – they stated that over 3.5 billion total system requests were logged for the presales, which was 4x their previous peak. They maintain that it would be impossible for any ticketing company to keep up with that level of demand.
The CEO of Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation, Michael Rapino, sent an open letter apologizing to Swift and her fans. He stated that Ticketmaster needs to do better at managing extremely high demand ticketing situations going forward.
Did Ticketmaster make any changes?
In the wake of the backlash, Ticketmaster did announce some updates to their systems and processes. These included:
- Adding more customer service representatives to respond to fan inquiries
- Working to strengthen their APIs and other technology to better handle site traffic
- Looking at ways to upgrade their Verified Fan processes
- Blocking non-North American traffic to their site during presales to cut down on bots
However, Ticketmaster did not make any fundamental changes to their dominant position in the primary ticketing market. Without meaningful competition, critics argue the company has little incentive to innovate or improve their systems.
What further action might be taken?
In terms of legal action, both the Department of Justice and multiple state attorneys general have reportedly opened investigations into Ticketmaster’s practices. Potential antitrust violations are expected to be reviewed.
Some politicians continue advocating for the breakup of Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Legislative action could potentially lead to enforcing divestiture or other means of opening up competition in ticketing.
It’s also possible that major artists could boycott working with Ticketmaster or insist on contract terms that prevent some of the issues that arose with Swift’s tour. However, given Ticketmaster’s dominance in event ticketing, outright boycotts seem unlikely.
Consumer advocacy groups are likely to keep pressure on Ticketmaster and monitor their operations closely for additional anti-consumer actions. Ongoing public scrutiny of their lack of competition could build support for antitrust enforcement.
Conclusion
The fiasco over Taylor Swift’s tour ticketing demonstrated Ticketmaster’s stranglehold over the primary event ticketing market. System failures, insufficient inventory, and anticonsumer policies led to public outrage and demands for major changes at Ticketmaster.
While the company has pledged reforms, their market power remains unchecked. Meaningful improvements will likely require legal action to enforce competition in the ticketing industry. Until fundamental changes are made, Ticketmaster has little incentive to prioritize fans over profits.
The Swift ticketing saga showed that Ticketmaster’s dominance has gone too far. Their monopoly led directly to a terrible experience for millions of Swift’s fans. Major reform is needed to prevent similar debacles in the future.
Taylor Swift’s massive popularity and engaged fanbase gave this incident mainstream attention. But the underlying issues with Ticketmaster impact ticketing for concerts, sports events, and more. The time has come to address Ticketmaster’s anti-consumer practices and lack of competition in the ticketing industry.
Swifties may have been the most vocal about the Swift tour ticketing catastrophe, but music lovers, live event attendees, and consumers in general all stand to benefit if meaningful changes are driven by the fallout of this high-profile failure.
Key Facts and Statistics
2+ million | Tickets sold during Swift’s tour presales |
3.5 billion+ | Total system requests during presales |
$600 million | Projected gross ticket sales for Swift’s tour |
80-90% | Ticketmaster’s estimated market share of primary ticketing |
2010 | Year Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation |
Quotes on the Ticketmaster Controversy
“It goes without saying that Ticketmaster should not be allowed to monopolize the ticket industry.” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Representative
“Taylor Swift proving why Ticketmaster needs to be reigned in. The fact that there are no alternative platforms/options because one company controls everything is alarming.” – Richard Blumenthal, U.S. Senator
“Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets.” – Bill Pascrell, U.S. Representative
“Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with Live Nation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up.” – Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator
Impact on the Music Industry
The fiasco with Taylor Swift’s tour ticketing also highlights broader issues with how the music industry currently operates. Ticketmaster’s position as an intermediary between artists and fans generates huge profits for them and their parent company Live Nation. Critics argue that more of the money generated from live music should go to the creators, not middlemen.
There are also concerns that the amounts artists must pay in fees and revenue shares to ticketing companies like Ticketmaster fosters reliance on things like overpriced VIP packages and complex tour bundling promotions. Fans suffer from those practices too.
Looking ahead, Taylor Swift and other big artists may start to exert more control over their tour ticketing. This could involve negotiated deals with Ticketmaster, contracts with multiple ticketing providers, or even vertically integrated ticketing systems controlled by the artist and their management.
Independent venues and promoters have even more issues dealing with ticketing conglomerates like Live Nation. Outside of the major tours, Ticketmaster fees and services often do not suit the needs of smaller clubs and theaters.
There are also environmental impacts to consider. As seen with Swift’s tour, the drive to sell millions of tickets leads to considerable waste from things like paper tickets, plastic wristbands, and excessive packaging. A more sustainable, fan-friendly ticketing system is needed.
Similar Ticketing Controversies
The chaos around Taylor Swift’s tour was hardly the first ticketing fiasco centered around Ticketmaster:
- Bruce Springsteen Broadway show – Technical issues with Ticketmaster led to long wait times and website crashes when tickets went on sale in 2017. Springsteen extended the run multiple times to give more fans a chance to attend.
- 2014 World Cup – Ticketmaster had the exclusive contract to handle all ticketing for 2014 World Cup matches in Brazil. Last minute venue changes and requirements that fans retrieve tickets in person led to major problems.
- Harry Styles 2022 Tour – Fans trying to purchase tickets for Harry Styles’ recent tour also experienced long delays and site crashes on Ticketmaster. Even Styles himself joked about fans needing “patience and beer” to deal with ticketing.
- Rage Against the Machine Reunion – Technical issues on Ticketmaster created chaos during the 2020 on-sale for Rage Against the Machine’s reunion tour. The band called the situation “infuriating.”
These examples demonstrate that the problems fans encountered with Swift’s on-sale are reflective of ongoing issues with Ticketmaster that affect major tours across music genres.
Consumer Impacts Beyond Music
Ticketmaster’s dominance in ticketing extends far beyond just concerts and music tours. The company has multi-year contracts to be the exclusive ticket provider for many major sports leagues and teams. This includes much of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB.
NFL fans have complained bitterly about soaring ticket costs and Ticketmaster fees. Ticket scarcities and technical issues have also been problems for big NFL events like the Super Bowl. Despite this, Ticketmaster’s deals with the league remain intact.
In the NBA, Ticketmaster’s control over ticketing and season ticket management has sometimes prevented fans of opposing teams from acquiring tickets. This contradicts the open ticketing marketplace the NBA claims to support.
The lack of consumer choice that stems from these exclusive deals continues to generate criticism from fans across sports. But as with music ticketing, Ticketmaster’s entrenched position makes it difficult for meaningful competition to emerge.
Broader Monopoly Impacts
Ticketmaster’s dominance in so many areas of event ticketing has effectively given it monopoly power. This lack of competition removes incentives for better service, innovation, and fair consumer policies.
Like most monopolies, Ticketmaster is laser focused on extracting as much revenue as possible. Margins on fees and add-on services are extremely high. Captive audiences have little option but to accept Ticktemaster’s fees if they want to attend events.
Monopolies also tend to resist change and outside pressure. Meaningful improvements to Tickmaster’s operations are unlikely unless forced via government antitrust actions. Based on their market position, breakups and deregulation may be the only impactful solutions.
For comparison, look at how tech monopolies like Google and Facebook behaved when dominant. Only the threat of antitrust enforcement spurred any notable changes in their approach. Like those companies, Ticketmaster has little reason to change its ways unless competition is restored.
Path Forward and Potential Changes
In the wake of the issues with Taylor Swift’s tour, here are some of the high level changes being advocated for Ticketmaster:
- Break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation through antitrust actions
- Prohibit exclusive long-term ticketing deals like those with major sports leagues
- Enforce consumer protections around disclosure of fees, wait times, and ticket availability
- Increase oversight of ticketing industry mergers and acquisitions
- Incentivize development of alternative ticketing platforms and event management systems
More artist and fan friendly ticketing approaches are also being discussed, such as:
- Reserved ticket pools for fan club members
- Limits on third party resellers
- Roomier refund/transfer policies
- Unique presale codes to cut down on scalping
- Fairer pricing standards
Technical solutions like waiting room queues and CAPTCHA checks could help ease massive traffic spikes during popular on-sales. Regulating ticket resale markets would also curb predatory scalping.
Ultimately, a more ethical, fan-centered ethos needs to drive the live event ticketing industry. Fair access and reasonable costs should be the priority over extracting maximum fees at all costs. Increased competition and oversight of Ticketmaster are likely the only ways to bring about these necessary reforms.