What’s the latest on the Taylor Swift-Ticketmaster situation? A fight with Motley Crue and a rise in scams
There’s still plenty of fallout from Ticketmaster’s attempt to sell millions of Taylor Swift tickets to billions of Taylor Swift fans. Let’s itemize a few things, shall we?
Some artists aren’t buying Tay-Tay’s position
Although Taylor claims no responsibility for any role in the fiasco, there are a couple of things worth pointing out. First of all, Ticketmaster does NOT set the prices for any tour. That’s the decision of the artist and the promoter. The artist can also opt out of Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing algorithms.
M. Shadows, singer for Avenged Sevenfold, pointed this out–and he’s not wrong.:
“If you think Ticketmaster sets the price of tickets… you’re wrong – the artists does. If the supply is 52 stadiums but the demand is 900 stadiums (per NYT’s) you don’t automatically deserve a ticket because you are a fan. Demand exceeded supply!
“Per dynamic pricing…. Artists have watched front row tickets go for 10x-20x face value from scalpers but see none of the upside. Ask yourself if that is fair. It may suck… but is it fair?
“Leave it to grandstanding politicians to get involved in something they know nothing about…. And leave it to artists to shrug their shoulders and point the blame.”
Meanwhile, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx had something to say about Swifties (and I’m pretty sure he meant “Woe Is Me Marketing.” The blowback, as you can imagine, has been serious.
Naturally, there are ticketing scams filling the void
The general public on-sale for the Eras tour has been canceled until Ticketmaster can sort things out. Meanwhile, there are plenty of scams on the go. If you’re still trying to source out tickets, beware. The usual secondary sellers like StubHub, Seatgeek, and Vivid Seats tend to be safe bets, but a quick look around will find tickets being sold through other, er, less reputable sites for between US$17,000 and US$35,000. Red flags: Demands for wire transfers, cash, or gift cards as payment.
