As of November 2022, Ticketmaster has faced many issues regarding tickets and website outages. This was mostly due to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket presales. The Eras Tour has currently grossed over $300 million with over 50,000 tickets being sold per show. Fans said that they weren’t allowed to obtain tickets even with a presale code, long wait times, and there were many other issues. Ticketmaster canceled sales a day before due to “high demand.” Swift states, without directly mentioning Ticketmaster, that her team could not handle this level of demand. After this, some Swift fans sued Ticketmaster for multiple reasons including fraud, misrepresentation, and antitrust violations.
Ticketmaster also faces more controversy with singer Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS tickets. Multiple articles state that Ticketmaster restricted fans from getting these tickets. This problem includes similar issues that Taylor fans faced. Ticketmaster, in an attempt to block out scalpers, makes purchased tickets only be issued 72 hours before the concert takes place. The tickets will also only be available electronically.
Monopolizing the industry is also a major concern within Ticketmaster. This has been an issue since Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in 2010. Since Ticketmaster has become a large company, they earn money by charging service fees,promoting artists, and managing venues. Ticketmaster has been called a monopoly ever since website glitches, and most importantly, ticket prices. Ticketmaster and its controversy has been more recognized ever since the Eras Tour issue. Ticketmaster had to appear in front of congress this year, from the outpour of complaints.
Speaking about the pricing, Ticketmaster does what is known as “dynamic pricing”, which is where ticket prices are based on demand. This is a problem because it causes dissatisfaction between customers, increased complexity and costs of pricing operations, and more. This has many different effects. It can be a good thing because it has the ability to increase revenues, improve management inventory, cause better customer ratings, and other reasons.
Overall, Ticketmaster has faced many issues and will most likely not put a stop to the website issues and ticket pricing since this controversy has been going on for decades.
