Updated: 11/18/22 at 2:17 PM
Within mere hours of posting this article, two major things have happened: Taylor Swift publicly condemned Ticketmaster, who apparently promised they were equipped to handle such demand, and the Department of Justice has agreed to launch investigation into the monopolistic website.
The downfall of Twitter and Elon…the downfall of Ticketmaster….who’s next?
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
When Taylor Swift announced The Eras Tour, millions of fans flocked to Ticketmaster to sign up for a chance to win the Verified Fan presale code…myself included. I waited in a three-hour line just to enter my information and cross my fingers that a website randomly selects my name for a code to buy tickets.
I was less surprised when I didn’t receive a Verified Fan code…but no matter! In my clutches was a Capital One credit card, which guaranteed me a chance at tickets to see Taylor. I was super encouraged. Until I waited another three hours in a queue only to be informed tickets were sold out.
For a while, I’ve been an active advocate for abolishing Ticketmaster’s monopoly on the live entertainment ticket market. I’m used to waiting in an hour-long queue to fight for the chance at one face-value ticket for Harry Styles. If you don’t nab a face-value ticket, then you’re looking at paying $1,000 per. Seat. Thanks to money-grubbing resellers.
Things went from bad to worse when a reported 14 million people flooded Ticketmaster to purchase Taylor Swift tickets. Since Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation in 2010, the website has complete control over tickets…making it virtually impossible to access a face-value ticket.
Not only was the The Eras Tour presale such a cataclysmic debacle that Capital One postponed their presale for 24-hours…the general sale has been canceled because Ticketmaster sold 2 million tickets during the presale. Swift’s previous Reputation Stadium Tour sold 2.8 million tickets in total.
Ticketmaster has drawn national attention due to this blatant robbery. Politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are calling for the Department of Justice to look into this un-checked monopoly. For now, I will stream Midnights and pretend I’m in a stadium with Taylor.
Jai Phillips
Source link
