popular opinion : By screwing over Swifties , Ticketmaster has picked a fight with the wrong fanbase .
The utter debacle that was the ‘ Verified Fan ’ pre - sale for the Taylor Swift ‘ epoch ’ tour – which was suppose to permit qualify fans the prospect to buy before the barren - for - all public sale – saw the mighty Ticketmaster site come crash down .
Fans were stuck in queues for 60 minutes , only to find the box office was destitute when they eventually get hold of the front . Some who ’d received Verified codes were unable to get at the waiting line at all .
when you ’re hear to get taylor fleet tix but ticketmaster keeps crashingpic.twitter.com/FOSdMrIP2Y
For those who finally saw ticket were available , the dynamical pricing insurance policy saw fansreportedlyquoted prices of up to $ 700 for tickets that were in the beginning priced between $ 200-$300 . This ‘ dynamical Pricing ’ first step was think to discourage the tag scalpers resell for exorbitant Leontyne Price by raising prices in line with need . It die . Those tickets are now sell for thousands alternatively of hundreds on the junior-grade grocery store . practiced work , Ticketmaster . Is it any surprise the Bad Blood is boiling over ?
Now Ticketmaster has cancelled Friday ’s public sale “ due to extraordinarily high demand on fine systems and deficient remaining ticket inventory to assemble that requirement . ”
It ’s a mess . But it ’s also an opportunity . An opportunity to truly say “ no more ” , and end Ticketmaster ’s reign of terror over our favourite sports game , music concerts and theatre shows .
Fans won’t Shake It Off
Ticketmaster is used to copping flak catcher from music fans , for its sky - high fees , abject failures to battle the bot assail ticket from real buff , and more recently for its dynamical pricing initiative . It ’s a truly disgusting display of unchained capitalist economy , which turns the universal joy of live music into a first class - only experience for the most affluent .
But this feels different . This sentence Ticketmaster has exhaustively annoyed arguably the most passionate fanbase in music . Of naturally , there ’ll never be enough ticket for everyone , but the sense of injustice and anger felt by Taylor Swift fan wo n’t be draw a blank .
The documentary on the takedown of Ticketmaster by rabid Taylor Swift fan is go to be so near .
The momentum is grow to postulate lasting action against Ticketmaster . The cancelling of Friday ’s public sale shows the ship’s company is on the ropes and presume n’t risk another job . There ’s a immense crestless wave of anti - Ticketmaster sentiment out there , it ’s being reported on by all the major intelligence organization . Fans , creative person , and politicians can all do their bit .
first off , it ’d aid if Taylor herself spoke out on this . It should n’t stay on her shoulders , but if there ’s anyone in the euphony industriousness with the top executive to control a new era of fairness for their fanbase , it ’s her . She ’s get hold of on technical school before , assure artists were paid royalties for innocent Apple Music trials .
But she ’s yet to comment on this Ticketmaster debacle – few artists ever do . Some fans are justifiably upset with her for the percept she must have opt into the dynamic pricing scam in the first place . That has n’t been established , but it ’s far more difficult for sports fan to say no to Ticketmaster than big name artist . The help became a monopoly after the Live land unification in 2009 and now there ’s no other game in town for fully grown events . They really are the ticket masters , but creative person can and should do their part to protect truehearted fans .
It ’s prosperous to say devotee should just boycott the braggart events until something is done about the company ’s unfair , exploitative , and damn right grasping policy . But if the big fans do n’t bribe the tickets , someone else will . Why should the most impassioned supporters of these band and artists miss out ?
It ’s an incredibly knotty pill to swallow , but I ’ve accepted I ’ll just never purchase tickets to a big concert again after Ticketmaster ’s infliction of active pricing . I wo n’t be able-bodied to afford it , and I wo n’t give above face note value out of FOMO .
It ’s also up to the politicians to dissemble in the interestingness of the people . eminent profile popular congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez ( aka AOC ) has called for Ticketmaster to be broken - up . There ’s never been a good time to call your military policeman or representatives ’ office and demand they take on the Ticketmaster trouble .
Tennessee Attorney General is launching an investigation into Ticketmaster follow their disastrous presale of Taylor Swift ’s enlistment . It will investigate whether Ticketmaster birth on its promise to customers and could give a court order to “ make the company do better.”pic.twitter.com/QUMTiAvPDq
Taylor Swift ’s tour cut-rate sale is a everlasting example of how the Live Nation / Ticketmaster merger harm consumers by creating a near - monopoly . I ’ve long urged DOJ to enquire the state of competition in the ticketing industry . consumer deserve better than this anti - hero behavior .
day-after-day reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly , it ’s uniting with LiveNation should never have been approved , and they want to be dominate in . Break them up .
Money for nothing
All of this is even more galling when you agnise there ’s never been a ship’s company that reaps such incredible rewards from doing so little . If there is , I ca n’t mean of it . Yet its portion of the spoils is unfathomably gamy , due to the ticketing monopoly it has been allowed to create over the days .
My wife and I always jest that we buy three tag for every event , one for me , one for her , and one for Ticketmaster . tick off the fee next time you checkout . For every two tickets you buy , the fee amount to a third . More Perfect Union , which advocates for breaking up Ticketmaster , says the fee sometimes amount to 78 % of the price of the ticket .
It ’s just too much . It has to stop . You do n’t mess with Swifties ; they ’ll remember it all too well .
