Taylor Swift–Ticketmaster controversy

The American ticket sales platform Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment were met with widespread public criticism and political scrutiny over blunders in selling tickets to the 2023 United States leg of the Eras Tour, the sixth concert tour by Taylor Swift, in November 2022. Media outlets have often referred to it as the Taylor Swift–Ticketmaster fiasco.

Media outlets described the demand for the Eras Tour's tickets as "astronomical", with 3.5 million people registering for the Ticketmaster's Verified Fan pre-sale program in the U.S. When the sale went online on November 15, 2022, the website crashed in an hour, with users logged out or in a frozen queue; however, 2.4 million tickets were sold, breaking the record for the highest single-day ticket sales ever by an artist. Ticketmaster attributed the crash to heavy site traffic—"historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up"—but users complained about poor customer service. Live Nation blamed Swift's "staggering" demand "overwhelming" them beyond capacity, and canceled the general sale due to "insufficient" inventory along with an apology.

Scalpers had purchased a large number of tickets and put them on ticket resale websites for exorbitant prices. Numerous fans and consumer groups alleged that Ticketmaster was deceitful. In response, several U.S. Congress members voiced to revert the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which they dubbed a monopoly lacking competitive pressure, leading to substandard service and extortionate prices. Swift's tour promoter, AEG Presents, said Ticketmaster's exclusive deals with the majority of U.S. live venues coerced AEG into working with them. In December 2022, several fans sued Ticketmaster for many violations such as intentional deception, fraud, price fixing, and antitrust. Publications stated the controversy highlighted one of the longstanding issues in the music industry and that the United States Department of Justice had been investigating the merger.

In 2023, the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary examined the controversy with a hearing, where bipartisan senators castigated Ticketmaster. States such as New York, Texas, and California outlawed scalper bots and regulated pricing models. Following pressure from then U.S. president Joe Biden, Ticketmaster and other ticket platforms agreed to abolish junk fees and show consumers all the fees upfront. Ticketmaster again faced criticism for the tour's European ticket sales, inviting a subpoena from the U.S. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. In 2024, the Federal government of the United States, co-signed by 40 U.S. states, filed an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation–Ticketmaster, alleging unlawful business practices that have been detrimental to the live music industry and seeking to dissolve the merger. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a federal ban on all deceptive, surprise fees. In 2025, president Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the FTC to eliminate price gouging by ticket resellers. Two individuals, who hacked over 900 tickets to the Eras Tour on StubHub and earned $635,000 in illegal profits, were charged and arraigned in New York City for tampering, money laundering, and larceny.


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