Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, face more than two dozen lawsuits over pre-sales and cancellation of general public ticket sales for the tour era by Taylor Swift, reports HollywoodReporter. Other complaints related to these lawsuits criticize the dominant position of the company, associated with a monopoly.
The lawsuit argues that Ticketmaster opened the pre-sale to “certified” fans knowing that the number of seats would not meet demand. Access codes were reportedly sent to 1.4 million fans, who could purchase up to six tickets.
“Ticketmaster intentionally provided codes without being able to satisfy the request,” insists the lawsuit, which adds that 14 million additional users had access to a presale which was to be exclusive, on November 15 and 16. This led to the cancellation of the general public sale scheduled for the 18th.
The lawsuit adds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s dominant position in the market forces artists to do business with them. It also attacks “dynamic pricing”, a system for managing supply and demand that makes ticket prices explode.
Aggrieved fans also argue that Ticketmaster allowed tickets to be resold during the pre-sale (at prices two to three times the original price), which could imply that these rates were negotiated with Taylor Swift representatives.
The Taylor Swift ticket sales fiasco prompted the US Senate to hold hearings to study the issue of Ticketmaster’s monopoly in the primary and secondary (resale) ticket sales market. No date has yet been announced.