Ticketmaster messed up Taylor Swift Eras Tour tickets. Swifties are now dragging the company to court
Taylor Swift fans now have a great war ahead of themselves since they have sued Ticketmaster's parent company as Revenge (legally though), for the chaos they created last month over botched Eras Tour ticket sales.
What: The 33-page complaint, which was filed against Ticketmaster's parent, Live Nation Entertainment by 26 plaintiffs from 13 US states, alleges Ticketmaster of fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations.
- The complaint was filed in LA County Superior Court on Friday, December 2, and it says 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.
Swifties (the moniker for Taylor Swift fans) are seeking a penalty of $2,500 for each violation, which could add up to millions based on the number of angered fans who did not receive tickets.
What exactly was the Ticket Master fiasco: According to the complaint filed, Ticketmaster imposed higher prices on music concert attendees in the presale, sale, and resale market.
When the sale for the tickets opened for Taylor Swift fans on November 15, 2022, the company's website crashed because of the fan demand, (which according to the company was exponentially more than they expected). While tons of fans did get into the queue and had to wait for over two hours to get a chance at purchasing tickets, other fans were blind-sided by being sent to a wait list.
The disaster continued the next day; and on November 18, the company decided to put an end to the sale of the tickets.
Swift's reaction to the fiasco: Even though Taylor didn't name the company directly, she said that the whole situation "really pisses me off".
What Ticketmaster said: The company released a statement after the incident, in which they apologised for the debacle and said the traffic was unprecedented, with 3.5 billion total system requests.
They also stated that, due to the company's confirmed method for removing bots, the amount of tickets sold has already broken records, with more than 2 million sold - the most in history.