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Can The Power Of Taylor Swift—And Her Fanbase—Finally Topple Ticketmaster’s Monopoly?

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It took more than two days, five hours, 30 minutes and at least two email registrations and a Ticketmaster text message code for my friend and me to finally secure Taylor Swift tickets. The millions of other fans who experienced site crashes, ongoing technical issues and sold-out notification screens after hours-long waits were not so lucky.

The backlash to the disastrous launch was immediate, with fans complaining on social media about the sustained site glitches, dynamic pricing model, extra ticketing fees and Ticketmaster's sustained stronghold over the live music industry. But Swift–unlike, say, Pearl Jam, which tried to take a stand against the industry giant’s widespread power in the 1990s—commands one of the biggest and most dedicated fanbases in the world. And it’s one that could potentially take on Ticketmaster.

Her fans, known as “Swifties,” are organized and undeniably effective. They have previously sold out stadium after stadium with the highest-grossing tours in history. They have also caused Spotify to have outages. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that they’ll be the force that finally breaks up Ticketmaster’s hold over the live music ticketing industry.

The widespread condemnations of the ticketing platform, which is estimated to control 70% of the primary ticketing and live event venues market, come at a time when momentum is building around antitrust reform in the tech industry. Across industries, unexpected “junk fees” tacked onto transactions for airlines, banks, cable companies, and ticketing sites were called out by President Biden last month.

With a discography that spans almost two decades and multiple genres, Swift’s audience has catapulted the star to new levels of record-breaking, chart-topping fame. Swift’s “Eras” tour has set 52 dates so far and comes on the heels of Swift having recently made history as the first artist to hold all top 10 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 following the release of her latest album, “Midnights.” Introduced as a “journey through the musical eras of [Swift’s] career,” the “Eras” stadium tour offers something for every fan—inviting and immediately mobilizing a massive group of people.

Swifties command a deeply active corner of the internet—one that’s not only celebratory but investigative and even conspiratorial in nature—as fans work overtime to detect and decode subtle easter eggs left by Swift and her team in song lyrics, interview comments, social media posts, online merchandise and music videos subtly hinting at what the star may do next. On Tuesday, it became clear that they have serious reach.

The “Eras” tour pre-sale opened at 10 a.m. Easter Standard Time on Tuesday, and by 1 p.m., household name members of Congress had begun weighing in on the frustrating ticket-buying process and pointing fingers at Ticketmaster. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was one of the first to spotlight the ticketing company’s questionable status as a monopoly in the industry via her Twitter account.

Soon Senators Amy Klobuchar and Richard Blumenthal and Representatives Ilhan Omar, David Cicilline, Bill Pascrell had all put out Tweets of their own criticizing Ticketmaster’s ticketing practices and behemoth industry stature. Word of the major fan upset had apparently even reached the White House by noon as White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain himself tweeted about the failure of the site to meet the demand of the fans.

Calls for action from lawmakers include Congressional support for antitrust enforcement, a Department of Justice review of the state of competition in the ticketing industry and a complete breakup of the company. Already, at least one attorney general is investigating. In the meantime, millions of Swifties are gearing up for Friday's general ticket sales launch.

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