Following the online ticket-selling chaos last month, a group of Swifties (Taylor Swift's fans) sued Ticketmaster for Anticompetitive Conduct after several fans were unable to purchase concert tickets for "The Eras Tour."
By leveraging the findings of a security researcher only known as Conduition, hackers have managed to reverse-engineer the sophisticated barcode system of Ticketmaster.Joe Raedle/Getty Images
(Photo : Joe Raedle/Getty Images) MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 18: : In this photo illustration, A ticketmaster website is shown on a computer screen on November 18, 2022 in Miami, Florida. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating the parent company of Ticketmaster for possible antitrust violations, this follows the news that Taylor Swift concert ticket sales overwhelmed the Ticketmaster system.
Suing Ticketmaster for Anticompetitive Conduct
26 fans of Taylor Swift filed a lawsuit against Live Nation's Ticketmaster after the online ticket-selling chaos that happened last November 15th. As several fans could not buy tickets for The Eras Tour, Ticketmaster was accused of fraud, price-fixing, and antitrust violations, and allowing more scalpers to purchase tickets.
According to The Verge, Ticketmaster also forced fans to purchase a ticket with a huge service fee knowing that the concert tickets alone are already above competitive market price. Adding to this is that even if the company has no intention, they were not prepared for the ticketing processing, which Swift supported when she released a statement through her Instagram Stories.
Distributing the presale codes was also included in the lawsuit that fans had to use during online ticket selling. The lawsuit stated that even though the seats were limited, the company misled the fans by providing codes to 1.4 million registered fans.
"Millions of fans waited up to eight hours and were unable to purchase tickets as a result of insufficient ticket releases. Ticketmaster intentionally provided codes when it could not satisfy demand," the lawsuit stated.
Based on a report from Deadline, $2,500 per violation was asked by the lawsuit for the court to hit Ticketmaster. Jeniffer Kinder, one of the fans' lawyers, said that the court is expected to rule a decision on Monday.
Ticketmaster also apologized to the singer and her fans after the presale. As per the company, the overwhelming surge and the bot attacks were the ones to blame for the incident, causing a massive demand in their system. The public ticket sale was also canceled because of the limited amount of tickets left, which will not accommodate the remaining fans that were not included in the pre-selling.
Because of the cancellation of the general sale for The Eras Tour's tickets, several scalpers have been reselling tickets to websites like StubHub and Vivid Seats for a huge amount. Looking at its original price from $49 to $499, the tickets in the resale sites cost from $350 up to almost $30,000.
Prices vary for the seats and which cities are available. According to Axios, cities like Las Vegas, Glendale, Arizona. Arlington, Texas, and East Rutherford have the most expensive resale tickets on the websites.
Meanwhile, fans have made private groups on social media like Facebook to buy and sell tickets. Compared to scalpers, the prices that fans offered were as close to the original prices. Several business and radio stations have also been hosting contests for tickets, including Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati.
