Taylor Swift followers had been eagerly ready Monday for his or her golden ticket: a verified code that may grant them entry to Ticketmaster’s presale for the icon’s upcoming Eras Tour. The following day, when those that had been chosen signed on to buy, they had been met with chaos. Long waits and a crashing web site compelled many to stroll away, hours later, empty-handed.

Incensed, the Swifties mobilized. They tweeted and made TikToks. They began trying into submitting class motion lawsuits in opposition to Ticketmaster and explored their very own antitrust initiative. They grew to become a loud sufficient refrain to achieve the ears of lawmakers like New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and US Senator Amy Klobuchar (Minnesota). On Friday, because the outrage reached fever pitch, an ongoing antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice into Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster’s mum or dad firm, grew to become public. 

Swifties didn’t uncover a brand new drawback—people have complained about Ticketmaster’s poor service and excessive charges for years. And the idea for the DOJ investigation doubtless is not the failed ticket run, however reasonably ongoing issues surrounding Ticketmaster’s 2010 merger with Live Nation, which is a significant participant within the world touring enterprise. Swift isn’t the primary artist to be entangled within the ticketing drama, however she is perhaps one of many final.

Competitors have accused Live Nation Entertainment of coercing venues to make use of Ticketmaster, stifling competitors within the ticket resale market, and holding back tickets. With these elements in play, specialists say there might be authorized standing to interrupt up the behemoth. “The setting that created [the Swift ticket nightmare] is very much worthy of antitrust scrutiny,” says Diana Moss, president of the American Antitrust Institute. 

While high-profile, the Swift saga is way from the primary time Live Nation Entertainment has caught the eye of legislation enforcement. The US authorities had its probability to take motion in opposition to the agency in 2019. The DOJ discovered that the corporate had leveraged its management over the touring enterprise to push venues to make use of Ticketmaster, a violation of the 2010 consent decree that guided the merger. But reasonably than transfer to interrupt Live Nation Entertainment up, the DOJ prolonged the consent decree to the tip of 2025—and added an modification that extra clearly acknowledged Live Nation couldn’t threaten or retaliate in opposition to venues that didn’t promote tickets by way of Ticketmaster.

Swift’s tour isn’t managed by Live Nation, however by competitor AEG. Still, Ticketmaster was chosen as a substitute of AEG’s personal ticketing platform AXS. AEG didn’t reply to questions on why it used Ticketmaster for the gross sales. Ticketmaster additionally canceled the November 18 public sale of tickets, citing a scarcity of stock. 

Experts say Ticketmaster’s standing as one of many solely video games on the town has allowed the corporate to coast with out improving its methods. Its Verified Fan presale program was meant to root out bots and ticket resellers, however this week’s chaos reveals it was not efficient at both. Neither Ticketmaster nor Live Nation responded to requests for remark.