Taylor Swift tour ticket fiasco leads to calls for Ticketmaster and Live Nation to break up - CNBC

There's thing astir Taylor Swift and breakups.

Activists and lawmakers are renewing calls to divided Ticketmaster and Live Nation aft a fiasco implicit summons income for the popular superstar's upcoming "Eras" tour, which is slated to footwear disconnected successful March.

Live Nation, which merged with Ticketmaster successful 2010, has faced longstanding criticisms astir its size and powerfulness successful the amusement industry. People amplified their complaints this week erstwhile tickets for Swift tickets went connected presale connected Ticketmaster's website. The institution was forced to widen presales aft fans flocked to the site, causing tract disruptions and dilatory queues.

Ticket buyers instantly turned to societal media to kick aft the website appeared to clang oregon frost during purchases, leaving galore incapable to get tickets for the show. Some users were shown an mistake leafage stating, "We're sorry! Something went incorrect connected our extremity and we request to commencement over. Broken things are a resistance — our squad is connected it truthful it doesn't hap again."

Lawmakers are besides calling connected the Justice Department to analyse the company.

"Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is simply a monopoly," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., wrote successful a Tweet Tuesday. "Its merger with LiveNation should ne'er person been approved, and they request to beryllium reigned in. Break them up."

Similarly, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., called Swift's circuit merchantability "a cleanable illustration of however the Live Nation/Ticketmaster merger harms consumers by creating a near-monopoly," successful a Tweet posted Tuesday.

"I've agelong urged DOJ to analyse the authorities of contention successful the ticketing industry,," helium added. "Consumers merit amended than this anti-hero behavior."

Representatives from Live Nation did not instantly respond to CNBC's petition for comment.

Others complained astir the agelong hold times and disorder implicit "verified fan" tickets and presale codes. The verified instrumentality program, which was established successful 2017, was designed to support tickets successful the hands of existent fans and not resellers.

But, that didn't look to enactment successful respective cases. Within hours, tickets for the circuit were already up for merchantability successful the secondary marketplace astatine exponential markups.

"Eras" circuit tickets are priced from $49 to $450, with VIP packages starting astatine $199 and reaching $899. Secondary marketplace prices tin beryllium seen ranging from $800 to $20,000 per ticket.

"The [Taylor Swift] portal is not going good for galore Swifties," Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., wrote successful a tweet Tuesday. "I'm proceeding astir tract crashes and fans waiting for hours. You'd deliberation each these work and convenience fees could spell to a moving website."

Activists person accused Ticketmaster and Live Nation of abusing their marketplace powerfulness and called for the institution to beryllium breached up.

"Despite promises of accrued contention and user benefit, they present power 70% superior ticketing and unrecorded lawsuit venues market," according to a conjugation of activists called "Break Up Ticketmaster." "They're hiking up summons prices, charging rip-off junk fees, and exploiting artists, autarkic venues, and fans. The Department of Justice tin reverse this merger and bring contention backmost to the industry. Help america request that they do."

Swift's latest tour, which comes connected the heels of her record-breaking caller medium merchandise "Midnights," has acceptable 52 dates truthful far, the singer's largest circuit to date. The "Eras" circuit could interruption Swift's ain grounds for gross summons income successful North America.