Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket sales probed by Attorney General – The Hollywood Reporter
The breakdown in Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift ticket sales is a mess that some lawyers can’t shake off.
With fans sharing their outrage and heartbreak at the fruitless hours they’ve spent trying to make room for Swift’s upcoming tour, top legal executives in Nevada, Tennessee and Pennsylvania has opened an investigation into the failure.
“Trouble, trouble, trouble,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro tweeted in reference to Swift’s hit 2012 song ‘I Knew You Were Trouble’ when he asked the public to file complaints about its use Use Ticketmaster for your office.
Shapiro, a Democrat who just won the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race, has since thanked everyone for their “quick response,” noting that his office had received gets “lots of complaints” to consider.
In Tennessee, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said he wants to make sure consumers have a fair right to buy tickets.
“There are no charges at this time of any wrongdoing, but as attorney general, it is my duty to make sure that consumer protection and antitrust laws in Tennessee are upheld. respect,” Skrmetti told reporters.
In 2008, Tennessee enacted a so-called “anti-bot” law that prohibits the use of certain computer programs to bulk purchase tickets to concerts and sporting events. However, like most states that have passed similar bans, the law is rarely enforced.
Meanwhile, in Nevada, the attorney general’s office said it was investigating Ticketmaster for “alleged commercial practices that were deceptive or unfair.”
The trouble began when registered fans given a pre-sale code on Tuesday tried to secure tickets for Swift’s 52-day The Eras tour next year. They quickly encountered lengthy delays and error messages that Ticketmaster blamed on bots and historically unprecedented demand. The company later canceled the Friday sale to the public.
Swift vented her anger and frustration in a lengthy statement, saying she had been assured by Ticketmaster that they could accommodate the request.
“It’s hard for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and allegiances, and it’s frustrating for me to just watch mistakes happen without due diligence,” Swift said.
Ticketmaster said more than 2 million tickets were sold despite the issue, setting a new single-day record for artists on the platform, and only 15% of buyers had problems with the process.
“We would like to apologize to Taylor and all of her fans – especially those who had a bad experience trying to purchase tickets,” the company said.
Many lawmakers have accused Ticketmaster of abusing its power as a dominant ticket seller to consumers.
US Senator Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competition Policy, Antitrust, and Consumer Rights, wrote an open letter to Ticketmaster President and CEO Michael Rapino, says she has been skeptical of his company since they merged with LiveNation in 2011. Her letter included several questions about Ticketmaster’s business, which she asked Rapino to answer next week.
When asked about reports that the Justice Department would investigate Live Nation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on specifics, but said President Joe Biden had worked to increase it. increase competition and limit the power of large corporations, believing that “a lack of competition leads to higher prices and worse service.”
