How Taylor Swift Could Still Hurt Ticketmaster

The ticketing fiasco over the singer's tour might help reopen an old antitrust case about its market power

- Leah Nylen

When tens of thousands of Taylor Swift fans were unable to complete their orders for tickets in November for her coming New Eras tour, those legions of devastated Swifties were left with little recourse beyond denouncing Live Nation Entertainment Inc.'s botched online ticket sales process and making tearful TikTok videos. But the company could still suffer plenty of hurt from the fiasco, which has left the US Department of Justice under intense pressure to fix what many say was a mistake in allowing Live Nation and Ticketmaster to merge in 2010. The agency has opened a new antitrust probe into the largest concert promotion and ticketing company, a move that could even be a prelude to a breakup if the company is found to have abused its market power.

"It would certainly be a very hard case," says David Balto, an antitrust lawyer who testified against the merger before the Senate and has represented Ticketmaster complainants. But "here the facts are clear: Ticketmaster has increased prices and reduced service. Those are the landmarks of anticompetitive conduct by a monopolist." A Live Nation Entertainment spokesperson says the company cooperates with ongoing federal oversight of its ticketing business. The company has advocated for Congress to strengthen legislation banning bot purchases of tickets and has urged the Federal Trade Commission to require that ticket sellers display so-called all-in pricing-including the face value of a ticket plus a listing of any fees-as New York state did earlier this year.