A breakdown of the Taylor Swift-Ticketmaster disaster

DALAINEY GERVAIS/THE VARSITY On November 15, 2022, presale tickets to US dates for Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated The Eras Tour went live on Ticketmaster’s official website for registered fans. A record-breaking 3.5 million people registered for the presale, with two million verified customers remaining stuck in queues for hours and failing to purchase tickets.Ticketmaster controls approximately 70 per cent of the ticket-selling and live-events industry, but its dominant position has come into question since its failures with Swift’s presale. The absence of competition in the online ticketing market, along with Ticketmaster’s inability to provide customers with expected services, ultimately left Swift and her fans distrustful of the company and its practices. This scrutiny raises doubts about Ticketmaster’s emergence as a ticketing giant and the sole decider of the ticket market’s pricing.How Ticketmaster worksTicketmaster is an American ticket distribution company that was founded...