Ticketmaster is every Swiftie’s number one public enemy after, to no one’s surprise, failing to support the traffic generated from the ticket sales for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour. It’s a grievance apparently shared by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
AOC took to Twitter to remind everyone of Ticketmaster’s monopoly over ticket sales in the country, thanks to the company’s merger with venue operator Live Nation. It’s virtually impossible for artists to sell their tickets through any other platform, especially those who require large venues for their concerts, which are chiefly owned by Live Nation.
As a consequence, the company can demand hefty service fees from buyers, as well as other abusive practices. “They need to be reigned in,” Ocasio-Cortez appealed.
The pre-sale for Swift’s tour began Nov. 15, after the singer added over 17 dates to the initial tour programming due to overwhelming demand. Even though only a few fans received the codes needed to access the early sale, Swifties had been predicting Ticketmaster’s collapse since the singer announced the tour.
Ticketmaster is known for crashing during ticket sales for artists of Taylor Swift’s size and has been continuously criticized for its lack of transparency. The most famous lawsuit against the company came from Pearl Jam, when in 1994 the band attempted to tour without using the platform, in protest over its dominance in the concert industry. Matters have only become worse since Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010.
General sale for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour begins Nov. 18, which gives Ticketmaster some time to fix the website’s server issues. It probably won’t happen, though, which will only further prove AOC’s point.
