CELEBRITY
Will Taylor Swift fans FINALLY be able get their hands on tour tickets? Ticketmaster faces being broken up in US lawsuit after fan fury at botched concert sales
Music fans across the UK are rejoicing after Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation Entertainment was sued over monopolising the live events industry in the US, sparking hopes it will soon be easier to land tickets for popular artists such as Taylor Swift.
The civil case, filed with the support of 30 states and the US Department of Justice, accuses the firm of using various practices to ensure it maintains a monopoly over live event ticketing services which amount to ‘exclusionary conduct’.
It states this leads to customers paying higher ticket prices, artists having fewer opportunities to play gigs and venues having fewer choices in ticketing firms, and calls for the firm to be broken up.
It comes after Taylor Swift hit out at the ticketing giant after a fiasco sale for her sell-out Eras tour saw a general release of tickets cancelled.
Fans were left furious after a pre-sale event saw all tickets sold – meaning the general release could not go ahead.
Many UK fans were also left fuming after accusing Ticketmaster of not properly notifying them that ‘lead booker’ details could not be changed.
Ticketmaster eventually u-turned on this after countless fans raged how they had been bought tickets as presents or by parents who would not be attending.
The US lawsuit means Swifties are hoping they will finally be able to get their hands on tour tickets, if a break-up of the company results in a more varied ticketing landscape.
Parent company Live Nation owns 250 venues in the US and is responsible for managing around 60 percent of concert promotions at venues worldwide, as well as 80 percent of ticket sales in North America, the lawsuit claims.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland has called for the company to be broken up: ‘Live Nation controls the live entertainment industry in the United States because it is breaking the law,’ he told a press conference.
The Justice Department said Live Nation also threatened to retaliate against one firm if it did not stop a subsidiary from competing for artist promotion contracts.