Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez concerned about Ticketmaster monopoly after Taylor Swift concert-induced site crash

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Alexdria Ocasio-Cortez is concerned about the Ticketmaster-LiveNation merger's monopoly
The Ticketmaster site crashed as millions tried to book tickets for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour
3.5 million people had pre-registered as verified fans for the tour

Written By:Sayak

Updated: November 17 2022 08:16:36 AM ET Washington, DC, USA

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is concerned about the monopoly of ticket-selling company, Ticketmaster, after its site crashed while Taylor Swift fans were trying to book their tickets for the upcoming Eras Tour by the Midnights hitmaker.

In her Twitter post, AOC pointed out the merger between LiveNation and Ticketmaster as a monopoly and said that it was essential to break them up. Check out her post right here:

Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.

Break them up.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2022

David Nicola Cicilline, the US Representative from Rhode Island, has also voiced his concerns about the merger, saying, “@Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets, and are a symptom of a larger problem. It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.”

.@Ticketmaster's excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today's @taylorswift13 tickets, and are a symptom of a larger problem.

It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.

— Congressman David N. Cicilline (@RepCicilline) November 15, 2022

Ticketmaster has now provided an explanation about the site’s crash, in which the company said, “The Eras on sale made one thing clear: Taylor Swift is an unstoppable force and continues to set records,” further adding, “We strive to make ticket buying as easy as possible for fans, but that hasn’t been the case for many people trying to buy tickets for the Eras Tour”.

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The company went on to explain that Swift’s tour sold around two million tickets in a single day, breaking all previously set records on the platform.

Some Swift fans were allowed to register early for tickets, whom the platform has referred to as “Verified Fans”. However, the number of Verified Fans for the Eras Tour reached an unprecedented 3.5 million.

Also Read| Taylor Swift 2023 Eras Tour: US stadium dates announced

Ticketmaster said, “Historically, working with Verified Fan invite codes has worked as we’ve been able to manage the volume coming into the site to shop for tickets,” adding, “However, this time the staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have invite codes drove unprecedented traffic on our site, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests — 4x our previous peak.”