Taylor Swift ticketing fiasco cited at Live Nation antitrust trial

The Department of Justice's antitrust trial over a proposed split of Live Nation and Ticketmaster opened in Manhattan, and prosecutors put the 2022 Taylor Swift ticketing meltdown front and center. Assistant US Attorney David Dahlquist told jurors Ticketmaster's systems were "held together by duct tape." Prosecutors argued the Eras Tour sellout showed how a lack of competition allowed the company to deliver an inferior product to fans, artists, and venues.

Dahlquist said jurors would see "documents and testimony about one specific, memorable incident about Miss Taylor Swift," citing "password outages, web pages going down, connection issues in their data systems," and noting that Ticketmaster had blamed bot attacks.

The government also accused Live Nation of using threats and its market power to force venues to use Ticketmaster: "If a customer wants to leave Live Nation, Ticketmaster, they threaten them to stay," Dahlquist said. Live Nation denies the allegations and says artists and the free market set ticket prices.

live nation, ticketmaster, taylor swift, eras tour, antitrust trial, ticketing meltdown, market power, bot attacks, password outages, venues