The conflict between the multinational show company Ticketmaster and the American singer Taylor Swift, which began in November 2022 after hastily selling tickets for her “The Eras” tour, is not over yet.
On Tuesday, July 12, after some fans on social media reported that they had trouble accessing the Ticketmaster website, sales of six of Swift’s upcoming shows in Paris and Lyon were abruptly halted.
On his French Twitter account, the ticket seller reported that “The Eras Tour in France has been postponed and there are still tickets available. This morning’s sale was interrupted due to an issue with a 3rd party seller who is working on resolving the issue as soon as possible.”
“All codes not used to purchase tickets today will remain valid,” the post added.
A new chapter in an old dispute
Last November, while tickets were selling for Ticketmaster’s “The Eras” tour of the United States, the company’s website crashed during a pre-sale event and tens of thousands of people lost their chance to buy after waiting hours on end.
At the time, the company said that two million tickets had been sold, the most on the platform in a single day, and that its site was down, not only because of the huge number of fans eager to buy tickets, but also because of hacking attacks. . Bots, presented as consumers in order to be resold.
The company later issued an apology “to Taylor and all her fans, especially those who had a horrible experience trying to buy tickets”. The singer also expressed her frustration, noting on Instagram that it was “unbearable” to see such mistakes happen.
Ticketmaster, in plain sight of the authorities
With over 500 million tickets sold annually, Ticketmaster is a leader in the entertainment industry.
Her case has transcended the economic and political arena, with the United States Congress accusing her of abusing her monopoly, and President Joe Biden pressing legislation to end what he called “junk interest rates,” suggesting a lack of clarity on pricing. And exorbitant fees for additional services.
Meanwhile, consumer advocacy agencies in Mexico, Argentina, Chile and Spain have recently called on him to be transparent about ticket sales, amid criticism against him.
In Mexico, the latest controversy erupted when several fans wanted to attend the concert of Puerto Rican singer Bad Bunny in the capital in 2022. At the time, hundreds of them could not get to the event, despite having valid tickets.
However, the Federal Consumer Attorney’s Office determined that the company reimbursed the cost of 2,155 tickets to people affected by the outage in the access control system.
With AP and EFE
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