Feds point to Taylor Swift ticket fiasco as evidence of Live Nation and Ticketmaster's monopoly

"We will present evidence from inside Live Nation and Ticketmaster that shows that their technology is held together by duct tape. They have prioritized growth over actually maintaining their systems. You'll see documents and testimony about one specific, memorable incident about Miss Taylor Swift, and how, when her tickets went on sale, it was system failures, password outages, web pages going down, connection issues in their data systems."

"The Eras Tour ticketing disaster is a prime example of how a lack of competition let the entertainment giant foist an inferior product on fans, artists, and venues alike. This case is about power - the power of a monopolist to control competition. Instead of using tech to compete, the company uses threats and its industry monopoly to force venues to use Ticketmaster."

The federal antitrust trial against Live Nation and Ticketmaster began in Manhattan with opening statements highlighting the 2022 Eras Tour ticketing disaster as a key example of monopolistic harm. Government lawyers argued that Ticketmaster's technology infrastructure is poorly maintained, with the company prioritizing growth over system reliability. The 2022 incident involved website crashes, password outages, and connection failures during Taylor Swift's pre-sale event, which Ticketmaster had blamed on bot attacks. The prosecution contends that the company's monopoly position allows it to force venues to use its services while delivering inferior products to fans, artists, and venues. Live Nation, the world's largest concert promoter and major venue operator, combined with Ticketmaster, the world's largest ticket seller, creates an anticompetitive structure.

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