More than two dozen Taylor Swift fans from 13 states are suing Ticketmaster after its Eras Tour ticketing debacle that left many fans without tickets while secondary market prices skyrocketed.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in Los Angeles County District Court in California, where Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation is based. The complaint, which Rolling Stone received, alleges that Ticketmaster violated the California Cartwright Act and the California Unfair Competition Law during its presale to “verified” fans on November 15 and 16.
The 26 plaintiffs allege that Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., has committed fraud, price-fixing and antitrust violations, as well as “willful misrepresentation,” among other things.
“Millions of fans waited up to eight hours and were unable to purchase tickets,” the complaint reads. She accuses the ticket giant of “deliberate and purposeful misleading”.[ing] Ticket buyers by allowing scalpers and bots access to the TaylorSwiftTix presale,” the complaint reads.
In addition to Ticketmaster controlling the primary ticketing market, the lawsuit alleges that its expansion into the secondary ticketing market, along with the company’s agreements with stadiums, “forces fans to buy more expensive tickets, for which Ticketmaster charges additional fees each time the tickets are resold.” receives”.
Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment.
The lawsuit also accused the company of “deliberately providing[ing] codes when it couldn’t meet ticket demand,” an issue Swift faced after the ticket chaos. “I will not apologize to anyone because we have asked them numerous times if they can handle this type of demand and we have been assured they could,” Swift wrote after the presale fiasco and subsequent general cancellation of ticket sales .
Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans in a statement released Nov. 18, claiming it didn’t anticipate the flood of fans who would be participating through the Verified Fan program.
The new lawsuit seeks a civil penalty of $2,500 per violation, alongside plaintiffs seeking attorneys’ fees and any additional relief the court sees possible.
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Earlier this week, amid controversy over Swift’s sale, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Marsha Blackburn asked the Federal Trade Commission to explain why it didn’t crack down on ticket-buying bots. Meanwhile, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have both raised concerns about Live Nation Entertainment’s alleged monopoly, while it has also been reported that the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division is launching an investigation into Live Nation had initiated even before the Swift went on sale.
This post has been updated with information on filing lawsuits.