The Clap
Ticketmaster, a subsidiary of Live Nation (NYSE: LYV), is in deep water following the botched sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming tour.
What
Many fans were unable to get tickets, due to extremely high traffic on Ticketmaster’s website. The problems in the pre-sale pushed Ticketmaster to cancel a general ticket sale on Friday.
In other news, the Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into Live Nation’s practices.
So What
Ticketmaster attempted to solve the secondary market issue that typically burdens these types of events by selling directly to fans with a verified fan code.
The site was meant to open for 1.5 million fans but instead, there were over 14 million users on the site, including bots. There were more than 2 million tickets sold
Now What
Despite the problems encountered with the sales, Ticketmaster’s efforts to solve the secondary market in the live events industry are a key starting point.
The secondary market pushes fans to pay significantly more for tickets, while the artist also gets no benefit from the sales.
