Amy Klobuchar, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, sent a letter to Ticketmaster's CEO expressing her longstanding concerns about lack of competition in the ticketing industry and asking about specific business practices. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Sen. "Live Nation takes its responsibilities under the antitrust laws seriously and does not engage in behaviors that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices," it said.īut not everyone is convinced. Live Nation Entertainment defended its practices in a statement posted to its website last month, saying Ticketmaster complies with the consent decree that accompanied the merger, does not set or control ticket prices and only holds such a significant share of the market "because of the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the next best primary ticketing system." Even if there hadn't been tech problems, it added, the demand for Swift tickets was simply too high to satisfy everyone. In Ticketmaster's memo explaining what had transpired, it estimated that 15% of interactions across its site experienced issues. The plaintiffs are far from the only die-hard fans who ended up empty-handed. "Ticketmaster does not charge high prices to give a better service, it charges higher prices because it has no real competition and wants to take every dollar it can from buyers." "Ticketmaster's service is not superior or reliable the massive disaster of the Taylor Swift presale is evidence enough of this," the lawsuit reads.
Julie Barfuss, the lead plaintiff, told the Post that she had taken the day off work to buy tickets, and tried to check out some 41 times - so many times, in fact, that a customer service agent she chatted with told her the website had identified her as a bot.īarfuss didn't manage to get any of the tickets in her cart, though her card did get charged thousands of dollars for all 41 attempts (the charges were later scrubbed). It's Been a Minute Taylor Swift is peak millennial vibes It seeks $2,500 for every violation of California's Unfair Competition Law, which prohibits false advertising and illegal business practices. "Defendant's anticompetitive behavior has substantially harmed and will continue to substantially harm Taylor Swift fans, as well as competition in the ticket sales marker and the Secondary Ticket Services Market," it reads. It alleges that the ticketing platform has a monopoly on primary and secondary markets and accuses it of engaging in fraudulent practices and various antitrust violations, including price discrimination and price fixing. Lawyers for the 26 plaintiffs, who live in 13 states across the U.S., filed the complaint in L.A. More than two dozen disappointed Swifties have filed a class-action lawsuit accusing Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, of fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations over its botched Eras Tour ticket sale.
Taylor Swift fans are dressing for revenge - or at least legal damages. Taylor Swift poses with her trophies at the 50th Annual American Music Awards in Los Angeles in November, just days after the botched ticket presale.
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