Taylor Swift fans went to court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday to charge Ticketmaster with “unlawful conduct” during the singer’s “agonizing” tour sale.
After millions were unable to buy tickets, some 320 Swifties filed a lawsuit against the world’s largest ticket marketplace and its parent company, Live Nation, for “willfully” charging “sky-high fees” and selling the “tickets to scalpers.”
The plaintiffs, each seeking at least $2,500 in damages, also alleged that the ticketing giant violated antitrust laws, according to WSIL-TV.
At the status hearing, the status of the “class action” was discussed and some arguments were heard from “angry fans”.
Lead plaintiff Julie Barfuss, of Salt Lake City, expressed her hope that this case will help fans have better experiences when trying to see their own favorite artists.
Don’t shake: Taylor Swift fans went to court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday to call Ticketmaster over “unlawful conduct” during the singer’s “agonizing” tour sale (Swift was featured on the Eras Tour over the weekend).
Angered: With millions left unable to buy tickets, some 300 Swifties filed a class-action lawsuit against the world’s largest ticket marketplace and its parent company Live Nation for ‘willfully’ charging ‘sky-high fees’ and selling the ‘tickets to scalpers’ (fans in the Pictured in front of the US Capitol on Jan.
“I tried to get tickets a total of 41 times on the first day. It throws you in the queue and you’re back in and then I kept getting errors,” she told CNN. “Then I spent a couple of hours trying again on the second day. When I finally got in and wanted to buy tickets, they were about $1400.
Another swiftie named Penny Harrison told the outlet that the case was “nothing to do with the money” and “everything to do with TicketMaster” being the “only venue in town” and “only place to get tickets.”
“The hope is that in 10 years they will look back and say that was the turning point. At that point, competition was widening and ticket prices were falling,” she continued.
Kinder Law PLLC, a female-owned personal injury law firm in Dallas, Texas, tweeted a photo of their client Jen Landry ahead of the hearing, as well as another of another fan wearing a black t-shirt that described Ticketmaster as “the quintessential one.” Monopoly, hated by the fans.’
Jennifer Kinder, who represents the 320 Swifties, said this is not a “class action.”
“A class action lawsuit is not effective. Ticketmaster has to be sued over and over again for every ticket sale,” she told the Telepgraph. “The Swiftie group will be the test pilot.”
Next, she will help Beyoncé and BTS’ plaintiffs in similar cases.
In November, Swift, 33, said in an Instagram statement about the disastrous sale of her tickets that she was just as “pissed off” as everyone else.
Contrasting: Kinder Law PLLC, a female-owned personal injury law firm in Dallas, Texas, tweeted a photo of their client Jen Landry ahead of the hearing, as well as another of another fan wearing a black t-shirt that described Ticketmaster as “The epitome of a monopoly, hated by fans”
Ready for it: The plaintiffs, each seeking at least $2,500 in damages, also alleged that the ticketing giant violated antitrust laws, according to WSIL-TV
“It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans,” she began in the lengthy post. “We’ve been doing this together for decades and over the years I’ve brought so many elements of my career into the house.”
Taylor went on to explain – without naming the company – that she chose Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system because she thought it would “improve the quality of her fans’ experience,” even though it was “really difficult” for her , “to trust”. an external entity.’
“I did this SPECIFICALLY to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do,” she continued.
“It’s really difficult for me to entrust those relationships and allegiances to an outside entity and it’s excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen without recourse.”
The Cardi singer added that there were “several reasons why people were having such a hard time getting tickets” and that she is currently “trying to figure out how the situation can be improved in the future”.
“I’m not going to apologize to anyone because we asked them several times if they could handle that kind of demand and we were assured they could,” she said.
“It’s really amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really annoys me that many of them feel like they went through multiple bear attacks to get them.”
Closing her message with a note to those who couldn’t get their hands on a ticket, she wrote, “All I can say is I hope we all have more opportunities to get together and sing these songs.
“Thank you for wanting to be there. You have no idea how much that means.”
After the ticket fiasco, thousands of Taylor’s fans took to social media to share their heartbreak, posting videos of themselves sobbing and begging Taylor to step in and do something.
Outraged: In November, Swift, 33, said she was just as “pissed off” as everyone else in an Instagram statement over the disastrous sale of her tickets
“It’s really amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that many of them feel like they went through multiple bear attacks to get them” (seen August)
Too much demand: The ticketing site received backlash from Swifties when it announced that the November public sale had been canceled due to “insufficient remaining ticket stocks.”
The fiasco even led to a Justice Department investigation into whether Ticketmaster had “abused” its power over the live music industry, the New York Times reported.
“The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster, whose sale of Taylor Swift concert tickets this week ended in chaos, two people with knowledge of the matter said,” the outlet reported.
“The investigation focuses on whether Live Nation Entertainment has abused its power over the multi-billion dollar live music industry.”
Ticketmaster used a system called Verified Fan for Taylor’s presale, which the site says “identifies real people and weeds out bots.”
“Keeping bots out of queues and avoiding overcrowding helps reduce wait times and make sales smoother,” it explained in a blog post covering Taylor ticket sales, which has now been deleted.
“That’s why Taylor’s touring team, AEG and The Messina Touring Group, chose them to sell Verified Fan.”
Fans had to request access to purchase tickets in the weeks leading up to the sale and those selected were given a unique code allowing them to go to the site and purchase up to six tickets for a date during the pre-sale buy .
Ticketmaster explained in its post that more than 3.5 million people have registered for codes, which is the “largest registration in history.”
“In the past, about 40 percent of invited fans actually came and bought tickets, and most bought an average of three tickets,” she continued.
Incredible show: Swift kicked off the Eras Tour on March 18, 2023 in Glendale, Arizona (seen Friday night)
Making history: Earlier this month, she broke the record for the most-attended women’s concert when she performed to a crowd of 69,000 in Glendale, Arizona (the crowd pictured at the weekend’s Eras Tour).
“In collaboration with the artistic team, around 1.5 million people were invited to take part in the [pre-sale] for all 52 show dates.’
Before the presale even started, many were angry that they didn’t get a code. But they remained hopeful that they would get a chance to buy tickets during regular sales.
But chaos ensued when those who had received codes logged on Tuesday to try to snag tickets. Many were stuck in a “queue” at the site for hours, only for the tickets to be completely gone when they were let in.
Additionally, others who boarded said Ticketmaster froze when trying to purchase their tickets, causing them to lose seats.
Many shared their frustration online, with one person writing in a scathing tweet: “F**k you Ticketmaster. I was about to check out my tickets for Taylor Swift and you made a mistake and sent me to the back of the queue and now I’ll probably never get tickets. Thank you for not doing what you were literally meant to do.’
“I HAD 17 PEOPLE IN THE QUEUE AHEAD OF ME AND TICKETMASTER BID ME OUT OF THE QUEUE. I’LL SCREAM I HAVE TO WAIT FOR 2000+ PEOPLE AGAIN AHHH WTF,” added another user.
Someone else raged: “@taylorswift13 @Ticketmaster @TMFanSupport I did everything I was supposed to do to become a verified fan, received my code and got into the waiting room 30 minutes early. Now it says I’m not a verified fan. PLEASE HELP.’
“Ticketmaster – I had Taylor Swift tickets in my cart – I received a different error message. Five times. And then I got kicked out for trying too many times? Come on,” tweeted another angry fan.