Swifties: Are you “…Ready For It?” Live Nation and Ticketmaster were officially targeted in a highly-anticipated antitrust lawsuit by the Department of Justice, with 29 states plus the District of Columbia joining in as plaintiffs. The suit, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Thursday morning, has been long-awaited by fans across all genres since Taylor Swift’s infamous presale debacle last fall.
Swift’s Eras Tour ticket sale — referred to as “The Great War” — caused complete chaos among millions of fans across the globe. Fans faced error codes, hours-long queues, and exorbitant ticket prices, leading to critiques of Ticketmaster’s handling of the sale. The fiasco sparked an investigation into Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s 2010 merger by the DOJ, focusing on whether or not Live Nation has “abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.”
| RELATED: Swifties Still Fighting Ticketmaster One Year After Eras Tour Ticket Fiasco |
Earlier this year, the American Economic Liberties Project hosted a virtual event, dubbed “Swifties Revenge: The Case for Breaking Up Live Nation-Ticketmaster.” During the event, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) — who has been very vocal in her criticism of the issues in the ticketing industry — said the biggest problem at-hand is Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s ability to act as promoters, venue operators, and a ticketing service all in-one. This has caused venues to assume that if they don’t use Ticketmaster as their primary ticket seller, they will no longer be able to host Live Nation-produced shows. This has led Live Nation to dominate both the primary and secondary ticketing market.
“Live Nation is so powerful that it doesn’t even need to exert pressure, it doesn’t need to threaten, everyone just falls in line,” Klobuchar said.
Now, the antitrust suit, compiled in a document of over 100 pages, claims that Live Nation and Ticketmaster’s business model violates both federal and state laws in multiple ways, citing the pair’s anticompetitive conduct and monopolistic control of the industry.
| READ: DOJ, 29 States File Lawsuit Seeking Live Nation/Ticketmaster Breakup |
This is a step in the right direction for Swifties who have been actively calling attention to Ticketmaster for over a year.
The woman-owned personal injury law firm in Dallas, Texas, Kinder Law PLLC, is currently representing over 355 Swifties in an ongoing federal case in California against Ticketmaster. The lead plaintiff, Julie Barfuss, filed the complaint in December 2022, claiming Ticketmaster violated breach of contract, fraud, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, and anti-trust violations.
“We are absolutely ecstatic that congress and DOJ are finally listening to Swifties,” Jennifer Kinder of Kinder Law told TicketNews. “We now join arm in arm with the DOJ to fight injustice. 355 Swifties continue to fight in California Superior court for our justice and our day in court. It is not over and we have only begun to fight.”
Swifties came together on Thursday to rejoice in the news — and provide some tongue-in-cheek comments:
Corrupt business practices plague every show, but I think the spotlight Swifties put on Ticketmaster, starting in 2022, helped push the DOJ to take action
There won’t be a quick fix, but we can stay LOUD as hell for EVERY👏SINGLE👏Eras sale & keep our boots on their greedy necks https://t.co/Hr7pmPhla3 pic.twitter.com/4oZfo6oa1E
— Kat 💖nashs_mom💖 (@Kat_AF13) May 23, 2024
Taylor Swift taking down Live Nation & Ticketmaster was not on my 2024 bingo card, but I’m here for it.
— DelyanneTheMoneyCoach ® (@DelyanneMoney) May 23, 2024
Taylor Swift has gotten Apple Music to change its policy on compensating artists, her record label to commit to sharing Spotify share sales with artists, and the U.S. Justice Department to sue Live Nation. Wild.
— 'valiant and Noble' -Taylor, Chicago N3 (@NobleSwiftie) May 23, 2024
corporations thinking they can take advantage of swifties but their business model was not letting us be bejeweled and now they are getting sued by the Justice Department https://t.co/RMrL11TbdM pic.twitter.com/wIRhBj8T5y
— maya 🪩 (@allmychampagne) May 23, 2024
Live look at the signup list to testify against Ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/8vFP6KZJeF
— Vic Vela (@VicVela1) May 23, 2024
Swifties are not alone in this fight. Fans across all genres are officially fed-up with Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for their control over the ticketing industry. Over the past year, fans of big-name artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny, blink-182, and Sleep Token have felt the effects of Ticketmaster’s dynamic and platinum pricing policies. Ticket prices have surged across the platform, leaving thousands of potential eventgoers empty-handed as they’re forced to choose between paying an exorbitant price for a single ticket or missing out on seeing their favorite artist perform live.
As a part of Fan Fairness Coalition’s “The Monopoly” campaign, live eventgoers haven spoken out — sending out more than 72,000 letters to Congress, calling for the merger to be broken-up. Now, legislators and those in positions of power are taking notice.
