The company holds a dangerous monopoly, but artists should also be doing more
By: Shane McCauley
Recently, concert ticket selling company Ticketmaster has come under fire for its mishandling of Taylor Swift tickets. When fans tried to purchase tickets on November 18 for the star’s upcoming Eras Tour, massive demand forced them to wait for hours. High volume eventually led the ticket site to crash. Despite the crash, Swift sold out most of the tickets, so the company canceled the entire public sales process. This cancellation infuriated both fans and Swift alike, who stated in an Instagram post that she was “pissed off.” Given that Ticketmaster is the most prominent ticket-selling company in the world, it should have invested more resources into ensuring a trustworthy and fair process. This demonstrates a larger problem of monopolies in the U.S. However, considering her influential status as one of the most popular artists in the world, Swift is not entirely absolved from blame either.
Officials at Ticketmaster have claimed that the sales cancellation was a result of unforeseen demand, but given the company’s resources, it should’ve been able to deal with this problem in advance. After all, the company’s revenue was $11.9 billion in 2019, and it has experience serving not only the vast majority of popular artists, but also the NBA, NFL, NBA and Broadway productions. With this amount of money and experience at its disposal, the company should’ve easily foreseen the impact of Swift’s tour sale and acted accordingly. If Swift had, for some reason, decided to delegate her ticket-selling process to a smaller company, then their excuse would make sense, but such was not the case. Furthermore, officials at Ticketmaster even told Swift multiple times that they could handle the demand. Ticketmaster was thus aware of the problem but did not invest enough resources to prevent it, showing that the company is incompetent and failed its consumers.
This incompetence is evidence of a larger problem, which is that Ticketmaster holds an unfair monopoly over the ticket-selling industry. In 2010, the company merged with Live Nation, which now holds 70% of the live entertainment venue market share. As a result, LiveNation faces little incentive to provide the best experience for consumers and artists alike. This often leaves artists with few choices. Clyde Lawrence, a member of the band Lawrence, said that when the band has a tour, LiveNation is so all-encompassing that it operates the band’s venues, sells the bands tickets, and limits their venue options. When LiveNation holds such a large monopoly that it operates multiple parts of the live entertainment industry at once, there is clearly an issue. Artists should have the ability to choose their own venues, but the monopoly is making this impossible. Additionally, almost all attempts to curb Live Nation’s influence have failed; in 2010, the Department of Justice tried to prevent the company from forcing artists to sell Ticketmaster tickets, but the company has violated this agreement and is under investigation for similar practices today. Furthermore, when other companies have tried to challenge LiveNation, they’ve emerged unsuccessful. Since these past measures haven’t worked, Congress should continue its existing efforts, which have included investigations and congressional hearings, in order to dissolve the merger between Ticketmaster and LiveNation and pass harsher antitrust legislation.
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Furthermore, popular artists like Taylor Swift have a role to play in scandals like these, since they are the key figures deciding how tickets are priced and whether resale is an option. In this case, Swift likely used a dynamic pricing scheme, which increases ticket prices relative to demand. She also did not choose to limit resales by using the available name-attached paperless ticketing system. These choices encourage scalping, leading to even higher demand and likely causing the site to crash faster. Thus, Swift’s actions reveal she is one of the forces behind the Ticketmaster scandal, as much as she claims to despise the company.
Some may argue that she does not directly control the actions of her team, but she does have the power to interfere if she chooses, especially given her prioritization of artist authority. Additionally, Swift is one of the most popular artists in the world, sitting among the top ten best-selling digital artists of all time, with her latest album breaking numerous sales records. She is also no stranger to the Ticketmaster monopoly, given that the company has ticketed her previous tours. Therefore, she has the resources to compete with Ticketmaster, or at least offer an alternative solution. Nonetheless, Swift chose not to. Swift’s actions illustrate that consumers are the victims in this situation. It is imperative that we hold both artists and Ticketmaster accountable.
While this Ticketmaster situation may seem like an isolated issue, it exemplifies two key problems of America in 2023. First, it brings to light the ongoing threat which monopolies pose to our capitalist system. As long as corporations continue to have free reign, monopolies will form and oppress consumers. Given bipartisan condemnation of Ticketmaster in this situation, Congress should seize the opportunity to pass harsher antitrust legislation. Second, this issue demonstrates the danger of excessive wealth in America, due to Swift’s choice not to provide a better touring experience for her own fans. Her example shows it is often impossible to keep the best interests of the consumer in mind while accruing massive wealth. In fact, she will likely become a billionaire this spring through the very tour whose ticket process caused her fans so much trouble. Not only does the Ticketmaster scandal demonstrate much of the problem around excessive wealth, but also the importance of holding both monopolies and artists accountable.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket sale led to website crashes and condemnation of Ticketmaster, the sales vendor (https://digitaldevil.org/?p=12255)
Taylor Swift, pictured above, recently released her 10th student album Midnights, which will be supported by the Eras Tour (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-sweeps-2022-amas-1234634191/)
