Following the tickets to Taylor Swift “Eras Tour” ticketing disaster, which left many fans without tickets as the cost of tickets soared in the secondary market, more than twenty fans from 13 different states are suing Ticketmaster.
The group of fans is suing the business for “fraud, price-fixing, and antitrust breaches,” alleging that it engaged in “intentional deception” that allowed brokers to purchase most tickets to Taylor Swift tour.
Both the primary and secondary ticket sales markets are under the control of Ticketmaster. The lawsuit claims that they were “eager to allow” bargain hunters inside the presale event in order to profit more from resold tickets to Taylor Swift tour.
The lawsuit also mentioned the “ticket sale debacle” that happened on November 15 and November 16 during the Capital One and Verified Fan presales, which resulted in the site crashing. The lawsuit also made reference to the fact that the sale of tickets to Taylor Swift tour was cancelled on Nov. 18 as a result of what Ticketmaster said “extraordinarily high demands on ticket systems” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory” to meet the demand.
The case was filed on Friday in California’s Los Angeles County District Court, where Live Nation, the parent company of Ticketmaster, is based. The complainant are asking for a $2,500 fine for every case in which Ticketmaster violated section 17200 of the Business and Professions Code.
After the presale, Ticketmaster apologised in a statement released on Nov. 18 to Swift and her supporters, blaming a huge demand increase and bot attacks. Many fans who had registered and been given unique codes allowing ticket purchasing were banned out as a result of that action. Additionally, due to a shortage of tickets to Taylor swift tour, sale was postponed.
Swift stated that she had “assurances” that Ticketmaster could meet the anticipated high demand for tickets. She said
“It really pisses me off that a lot of (fans) feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”
After the presale incident over tickets to Taylor Swift tour, she wrote in her Instagram story “It goes without saying that I’m tremendously protective of my fans,”. She said in the message, which doesn’t specifically mention Ticketmaster but alludes to the ticketing fiasco,
“IT’S REALLY DIFFICULT FOR ME TO TRUST AN OUTSIDE ENTITY WITH THESE RELATIONSHIPS AND LOYALTIES, AND EXCRUCIATING FOR ME TO JUST WATCH MISTAKES HAPPEN WITH NO RECOURSE,”
“There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward,” She further wrote.
Early this week senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn questioned the Federal Trade Commission about why it hasn’t taken more action against ticket-buying bots amid the controversy surrounding the tickets to Taylor Swift tour on-sale. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a representative from New York, and Amy Klobuchar, a senator from Minnesota, have both expressed concern about what is allegedly a monopoly held by Live Nation Entertainment.
Additionally, it was reported that the Department of Justice’s antitrust division had started an investigation into Live Nation even before the Swift on-sale.
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