Taylor Swift fans sue Ticketmaster over disastrous concert presale
Swifties are taking their bad blood with Ticketmaster to a courtroom.
More than two dozen Taylor Swift fans have sued Ticketmaster's parent company, Live Nation, alleging "unlawful" anti-competitive conduct following a disastrous concert presale, according to CNN.
"Ticketmaster is a monopoly that is only interested in taking every dollar it can from a captive public," the lawsuit alleges.
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Ticketmaster held a presale event in November inviting "verified fans" who received a code to purchase tickets to Swift's Eras tour, but it was plagued by technical issues. Ticketmaster blamed this on a "staggering number of bot attacks" and "fans who didn't have codes" driving "unprecedented traffic" to the site. Due to "extraordinarily high demands" and "insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand," a general public sale was then canceled.
But the lawsuit alleges Ticketmaster "intentionally and purposely" misled fans by providing millions of presale codes knowing it "could not satisfy demands." Fans also allege Ticketmaster is an illegal monopoly, as "no other venue can hold half as many people as the stadiums and venues working through Ticketmaster," so "Taylor Swift and other popular musicians have no choice but to work through" them, per The Hollywood Reporter. The suit seeks a $2,500 fine per violation.
Ticketmaster's botched presale led to increased scrutiny of the company and its merger with Live Nation, which is reportedly facing a DOJ antitrust investigation. Swift slammed Ticketmaster in November, saying it's "excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse."
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