Ticketmaster has once again come under fire for Taylor Swift ticket sales – this time in France.
As French fans prepared on Tuesday to buy tickets for six concerts in May and June 2024 on Swift’s Erez Tour – Four shows in Paris, two in Lyon — There was a huge line of customers ready to buy on Ticketmaster’s website; A screenshot appeared to tell a fan 1,023,504 Buyers were in line ahead of them.
Soon, Ticketmaster announced Sales of those shows were “paused”. The company did not provide an explanation, but said that new times for the sale would be announced, and that “all codes not already used remain valid.” But some fans’ social media posts showed technical errors on Ticketmaster’s website, including a progress icon that “keeps spinning and spinning” a fan – speaking English with an American accent, but has 762 Euros worth of tickets in his shopping cart – keep it.
Representatives for Ticketmaster and its corporate parent, concert giant Live Nation Entertainment, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The situation in France appeared to be a frustrating repeat of the problems that plagued Swift’s North American presales in November, when an influx of millions of fans – and bots – overwhelmed Ticketmaster’s systems, and fans dumped their shopping carts. Problems such as missing tickets were reported. can be purchased. Ticketmaster ended its public sale as a result, although the company also Said It sold over two million tickets for the tour in a single day.
Problems like Swift’s presale in November, as well as longstanding concerns over Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s market dominance, led to brutal Senate Judiciary hearings in January. Senators from both parties explicitly called the company a monopoly and cast doubt on an executive’s explanation that Ticketmaster was unable to defend itself against an onslaught of bots during Swift’s presale.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee said at the hearing, “It’s unbelievable.” “Why is it,” she continued, “that you haven’t developed an algorithm to figure out what’s a bot and what’s a consumer?”
Nevertheless, demand for Swift tickets has been extraordinary, with arenas sold out wherever Swift plays and tickets selling for thousands of dollars on the secondary market. They are scheduled to complete the North American leg of their tour next month, then play in Latin America, Asia and Europe.
The Justice Department is separately conducting an antitrust investigation of Live Nation. The Justice Department has not confirmed that investigation, but Live Nation chief executive Michael Rapinoe has Spoken openly about it.
