Editing Ticketmaster (section)

=== Taylor Swift tour pre-sale crash ===
{{Further|Taylor Swift–Ticketmaster controversy}}
On November 15, 2022, the first day of pre-sale of tickets to verified fans for the US leg of [[the Eras Tour]] (2023) by American singer-songwriter [[Taylor Swift]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Travis |date=November 15, 2022 |title=Ticketmaster was 'experiencing technical difficulties' and outage reports surged as presale started for Taylor Swift's Eras tour |url=https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/ticketmaster-was-experiencing-technical-difficulties-and-outage-reports-surged-as-presale-started-for-taylor-swifts-eras-tour/articleshow/95539891.cms |access-date=November 15, 2022 |website=Business Insider}}</ref> Ticketmaster's official website [[Crash (computing)|crashed]] following "historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up", halting the pre-sale.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spangler |first=Todd  |date=November 15, 2022 |title=Taylor Swift Fans Crash Ticketmaster Site |url=https://variety.com/2022/digital/news/taylor-swift-crash-ticketmaster-site-1235433274/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Variety}}</ref> In less than an hour of availability, the ticketing platform's servers were "unable to answer", with users "either completely logged out or in a queue 2,000-plus people strong that appeared frozen." Ticketmaster immediately published a statement saying they are working to fix the issues "as the site was unprepared to accommodate the sheer force of hundreds of thousands of Swift fans",<ref name="RS Hunger Games">{{Cite magazine |last=Jones |first=C. T. |date=2022-11-15 |title=Taylor Swift Tickets Are On Sale. Fans Say It's Their Hunger Games |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/taylor-swift-fans-battle-ticketmaster-presale-1234630928/ |access-date=2022-11-16 |magazine=Rolling Stone}}</ref> and subsequently reported that "hundreds of thousands of tickets" had already been sold and rescheduled the remaining onsales to a different time, including the Capital One onsale to November 16.<ref>{{Cite tweet |title=Ticketmaster statement |number=1592579481449168898 |access-date=2022-11-15|user=Ticketmaster}}</ref>

Fans and customers online widely criticized Ticketmaster for a flawed ticketing model that obstructed them from purchasing tickets. The word "Ticketmaster" was trending number one worldwide on various social media platforms such as [[Twitter]] and [[TikTok]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-16 |title=AOC demands Ticketmaster be dismantled after Taylor Swift ticket sale chaos |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/aoc-ticketmaster-taylor-swift-tickets-b2225903.html |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=The Independent}}</ref> Several US lawmakers took notice of the issue. US congresswoman [[Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez]] tweeted that Ticketmaster is a [[monopoly]] and that it must be unmerged from [[Live Nation Entertainment]]. Congressman [[Bill Pascrell]], who had previously petitioned [[United States Attorney General|US Attorney General]] [[Merrick Garland]] in support of "strong [[Competition law|antitrust]] enforcement by the [[Presidency of Joe Biden|Biden Administration]]" and criticized the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, stated that he attempted to purchase tickets but was placed on the waitlist.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-16 |title=AOC demands Ticketmaster be dismantled after Taylor Swift ticket sale chaos |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/aoc-ticketmaster-taylor-swift-tickets-b2225903.html |access-date=2022-11-16 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> The [[Tennessee Attorney General]], [[Jonathan Skrmetti]], began an investigation into "consumer complaints about chaos during the presale of tickets" to the tour. He said in a press conference on November 16 that "a lack of competition [for Ticketmaster] has led to a poor experience and higher prices for consumers."<ref name=":2b">{{Cite web |last=Ighadaro |first=Omose |date=November 16, 2022 |title=Tennessee AG Investigating Antitrust Violations in Taylor Swift Ticket Presale |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-16/ticketmaster-s-taylor-swift-presale-investigated-by-tennessee-ag |access-date=2022-11-17 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref> Following investigations initiated by the Tennessee Attorney General<ref name=":2b"/> and the [[North Carolina Attorney General]] on the grounds of [[Consumer protection|consumer rights]] violations,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ighodaro |first=Omose |date=November 17, 2022 |title=Tennessee, North Carolina AGs Investigating Taylor Swift Ticket Presale |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-16/ticketmaster-s-taylor-swift-presale-investigated-by-tennessee-ag |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=Bloomberg}}</ref> the federal Department of Justice began an investigation into Live Nation Entertainment and Ticketmaster on November 18.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=McCabe |first1=David |last2=Sisario |first2=Ben |date=November 18, 2022 |title=Justice Department Said to Investigate Ticketmaster's Parent Company |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/18/technology/live-nation-ticketmaster-investigation-taylor-swift.html |access-date=November 18, 2022}}</ref>

Swift released a statement on November 18, 2022, via her [[Instagram]] story; she asserted that she is protective of her fans and wanted to assure a quality experience for them, but found it difficult to "trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties". She said that she was "not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked [Ticketmaster], multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could." She concluded that she is taking the necessary measures to resolve the issue and resume the sale.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Josephs |first=Leslie |title=Taylor Swift slams 'outside entity' over ticket fiasco: 'I'm not going to make excuses for anyone' |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/18/taylor-swift-slams-outside-entity-over-ticketmaster-tour-sale-fiasco.html |access-date=2022-11-18 |website=CNBC |date=November 18, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

In December, a group of Swift's fans, called "[[Swifties]]," filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, accusing them of fraud, anti-trust violations, and price-fixing. In the lawsuit, fans demanded $2,500 for each violation, which could potentially amount to several million in total.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-63863416 | title=Taylor Swift: 'Swifties' sue Ticketmaster over tour sale problems | date=December 5, 2022 | publisher=BBC News |access-date=December 6, 2022}}</ref>