Taylor Swift’s presale for her upcoming Eras Tour went off with several glitches Tuesday with Ticketmaster failing to keep up with the unprecedented demand to its site.
While many were quick to share their ire online, U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to the hiccup by pointing to a real problem that has very little to do with Swift’s popularity: Ticketmaster’s monopolization of the live music industry.
“Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly,”AOC posted on Twitter. “It’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up.”
While the congresswoman’s timing was only a winking nod to the turmoil in the Swift fandom, one astute Swiftie quickly responded to AOC’s tweet: “You couldn’t get tickets either huh?”
Paul Tassi, a Forbes writer, is another follower. RetweetedAOC with the caption “I too also did not get Taylor Swift tickets,”Later, you can add “to be clear she [AOC] is right and I am not being sarcastic.”
AOC’s blasting of Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment at large comes while more concertgoers are decrying the company’s stranglehold on ticket prices and accusing them of abusing their power. While Ticketmaster and Live Nation have long been prominent sellers for live events, AOC’s tweet questions their 2009 merger and whether or not the company has violated the conditions that legalized that deal.
So back to Swift’s Eras Tour: As part of the Ticketmaster Verified Plan program, emails went out to Swift fans Monday, who were then granted presale access via text messages with unique codes for every user. But allegedly, not all access codes were saved correctly on Ticketmaster’s backend, which led to purchasing queues freezing and Ticketmaster ultimately pulling plug altogether and delaying sales to Tuesday afternoon.
Ticketmaster stated in the announcement that “hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold”With “historically unprecedented demand,”But due to high interest in the tour they were forced to delay the presale window in West Coast cities like Los Angeles and Santa Clara from 10 a.m. local time to 3 pm.
“Thank you for your patience as we continue managing this huge demand,”They TweetFrom their official account.
AOC wasn’t the only witness to be disturbed by these events. For more fan reactions, continue reading. “The Great War” of Swift’s Eras Tour ticket presale below.