The American ticket sales platform Ticketmaster and the parent company

Live Nation Entertainment Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

received widespread public criticism and political scrutiny over blunders in selling tickets to the United States leg of the Eras Tour (2023), the sixth concert tour by the singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, in November 2022. Media outlets described the demand for the Eras Tour's tickets as "astronomical", with 3.5 million people registering for the Ticketmaster's Verified Fan pre-sale program in the U.S. When the sale went online on November 15, 2022, the website

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stations, along with some Alternativ ...

in an hour, with users logged out or in a

frozen Frozen may refer to: * the result of freezing * a paralysis response in extreme cases of fear Films * ''Frozen'' (1997 film), a film by Wang Xiaoshuai * ''Frozen'' (2005 film), a film by Juliet McKoen * ''Frozen'' (2007 film), a film by Sh ...

queue; however, 2.4 million tickets were sold, breaking the record for the highest single-day ticket sales ever by an artist. Ticketmaster attributed the crash to heavy site traffic—"historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up"—but users complained about poor customer service. Live Nation blamed Swift's "staggering" demand "overwhelming" them beyond capacity, canceled the general sale due to "insufficient" inventory, and published an apology. Scalpers had purchased a large number of tickets and put them on ticket resale websites for exorbitant prices. Numerous fans and consumer groups alleged that Ticketmaster is deceitful. In response, several U.S. Congress members voiced to revert the 2010

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of Ticketmaster and

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

, which they dubbed a monopoly lacking competitive pressure, leading to substandard service and extortionate prices. The U.S. Department of Justice initiated a federal probe. Swift's tour promoter,

AEG Presents The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports event ...

, said Ticketmaster's exclusive deals with the majority of U.S. live venues coerced AEG into working with them. In December 2022, several fans sued Ticketmaster for many violations such as intentional deception, fraud, price fixing, and

antitrust Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...

. Publications opined that the controversy highlighted one of the longstanding issues in the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

. Ticketmaster distributed invalid tickets for the

World's Hottest Tour The World's Hottest Tour was the fourth concert tour by Puerto Rican rapper and singer-songwriter Bad Bunny and his first stadium tour, in support of his fourth studio album ''Un Verano Sin Ti'' (2022). DJs Alesso & Diplo were opening acts o ...

of Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny in Mexico City, which led to

overcrowding Overcrowding or crowding is the condition where more people are located within a given space than is considered tolerable from a safety and health perspective. Safety and health perspectives depend on current environments and on local cultural n ...

at the venue, attracting more criticism. The

PROFECO The Procuraduría Federal del Consumidor, or Office of the Federal Prosecutor for the Consumer (PROFECO, for short), is an organization of the Mexican government led by on the Attorney General. Mexico became the second Latin American nation to pas ...

fined Ticketmaster 10 percent of its 2021 income. In 2023, the

U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...

examined the fiasco with a hearing, where bipartisan senators castigated Ticketmaster. States such as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Texas, Massachusetts, and California outlawed scalper bots and regulated pricing models. Following pressure from Joe Biden, the

U.S. president The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, Ticketmaster and other ticket platforms agreed to abolish junk fees and show consumers all the fees upfront. The

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction ov ...

decided to impose a federal ban on all deceptive, surprise fees. Ticketmaster again faced criticism in mid-2023 when the U.K. and French sales of the Eras Tour experienced similar issues.

Background

Company

Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an American ticket sales and distribution company based in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

with operations in many countries around the world. It was founded in Phoenix, Arizona in 1976 by college staffers Peter Gadwa and Albert Leffler, as well as businessman Gordon Gunn III. US Department of Justice

In 1994, American rock band

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

filed a complaint with the antitrust division of the U.S. Department of Justice, claiming that Ticketmaster has a "virtually absolute monopoly on the distribution of tickets to concerts" and attempted to book its tour only at venues that did not use Ticketmaster. However, no action was taken on Ticketmaster. In the 21st century, Ticketmaster became the largest ticket sales company in the world. In February 2009, Ticketmaster entered into an agreement to merge with the world's largest event promoter,

, to form

.Live Nation and Ticketmaster Agree to Merge
''The New York Times''. February 10, 2009. The deal was cleared by the U.S. Justice Department in January 2010 under the condition that the company sell Paciolan to

Comcast Spectacor Comcast Spectacor is a Philadelphia-based American sports and entertainment company. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, the Phi ...

or another firm, and license its software to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), its biggest competitor. The new company, which would be called Live Nation Entertainment, would also be subject to provisions for 10 years that prevented it from retaliating against venues that partnered with competing ticketing firms. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino was named CEO of the new company. Ticketmaster was a subject of several controversies, such as anti-competition claims, deceitful relationships with scalpers,

data breach A data breach is a security violation, in which sensitive, protected or confidential data is copied, transmitted, viewed, stolen or used by an individual unauthorized to do so. Other terms are unintentional information disclosure, data leak, info ...

, deceptive pricing, and dynamic pricing. According to

consumer organization Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution. Consumer Organizations may operate via protests, litigation, Adver ...

s, Ticketmaster and Live Nation control over 70% of the primary ticketing and live event venues market. The merger has faced longstanding criticism. Earlier in 2022, both Ticketmaster and Live Nation received backlash and media attention on their dynamic pricing and "platinum" ticket model when tickets for

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

's and Blink-182's

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

tours (both of which were being promoted