Taylor Swift fans sue Ticketmaster

Taylor Swift fans are suing Ticketmaster for “price fixing” and “fraud”. Following the ticket-buying debacle for Swift’s North American Eras tour, which saw Ticketmaster cancel the general sale due to high demand and insufficient ticket inventory, a number of fans are now suing the company.

According to TMZ, the company is being sued for “’fraud, price fixing and antitrust violations”, as well as “intentional deception”, after scalpers scooped up a large number of tickets.

The lawsuit claims that because Ticketmaster is involved in both the primary ticket sale market as well as the secondary market, they were “eager to allow” scalpers into the presale event.

Ticketmaster previously issued an apology to Swift and her fans, following the presale debacle. The ticket sales and distribution company was slammed after announcing the cancellation of general sale tickets. Ticketmaster said in a statement: “We strive to make ticket buying as easy as possible for fans, but that hasn’t been the case for many people trying to buy tickets for Taylor Swift The Eras Tour. First, we want to issue an apology to Swift and all of her fans – especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets.”

The apology came after Swift revealed she was unhappy with how the sales had been handled. She wrote in an Instagram message to fans: “I’ve brought so many elements of my career in-house. I’ve done this specifically to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team, who care as much about my fans as I do. 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.”

Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in Beverly Hills, California, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010, it merged with Live Nation under the name Live Nation Entertainment. The company started in 1976 as a way for colleges to sell concert tickets on campuses, but by 2022 the company has become a global powerhouse, and a de facto monopoly when it comes to ticketing events. Today, Ticketmaster even controls the resale market, charging a service fee for any tickets resold by private parties through its platform

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company was selling nearly half a billion tickets worldwide.