Mere hours after Taylor Swift announced she was going back on the road for her sixth concert tour, officially titled The Eras Tour, the internet erupted with complaints from fans trying to snag presale tickets on Ticketmaster after the site all but crashed upon impact.
Long considered the world’s largest marketplace for ticket sales, Ticketmaster is the go-to website for those looking to buy concert tickets, sports tickets, and various other performance-based ticket sales. Not for the first time, the company is being dragged through the mud for its monopoly on live events and ensuing astronomical prices. Now, in light of The Eras Tour complications, Swifties are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate and break up Ticketmaster once and for all.
The campaign, which was launched by a broad coalition of advocates led by the American Economic Liberties Project and hosted by Action Network.org, saw an immediate uptick in signatures following The Eras Tour debacle. Currently, it has close to 10,000 signatures and is just a few thousand away from its goal of 12,800.
Having issues with Ticketmaster has become par for the course for concert lovers, and many fans are simply resigned to the fact that anything Taylor Swift releases will cause a brief meltdown. Last week, the release of her tenth studio album, Midnights, caused Spotify to briefly crash as well.
Swifties aren’t the only ones who’ve taken notice of Ticketmaster’s stronghold on live events. President Biden took aim at companies like Ticketmaster in a public address just days before Swift’s tour announcement, addressing the outrageous processing fees that tend to come with concert tickets. He and the Federal Trade Commission delivered a promise to reduce or eliminate “unfair and deceptive fees.” It’s no doubt Bruce Springsteen’s concert from earlier this summer, which came with a $5,000 price tag on tickets and a wave of backlash, contributed to the President’s awareness on the matter.
Ticketmaster’s complication with The Eras Tour presale does not bode well for Swifties, who anxiously await tickets officially going on sale. In case the company does manage to get its act together, though, you can learn more about pricing, tour dates, and other details for The Eras Tour here.