If you, dear reader, have been paying attention to the news over the past month or so, you most likely have caught some of the stories concerning the issues between the upcoming Taylor Swift “Eras” tour and Ticketmaster…and the inability of Ticketmaster to do online sales of the tours tickets.
Swift's public relations and management teams have placed all blame on Ticketmaster and even went as far as saying that they had to work with Ticketmaster, that they had no other choice.
All of this has led to Swift's fan base to bring legal action against Ticketmaster as well as an Congressional investigation into what happened.
This is all crazy…and I think that people are pointing fingers in the wrong direction. Now I will state right here that I have photographed a LOT of Live Nation shows…which owns Ticketmaster, but that has not influenced my thought process at all. In fact, I believe that it has helped it. Especially knowing how many other production companies are out there who could had worked with Swift and her shows.
See, Swift and her team knew which venues she wanted to play; some of the largest NFL Stadiums in the country to gross the largest profit. I am sorry if you don't like reading that…but it is true. Also, Swift set her ticket prices, end of story. That is one reason why Ed Sheeran's prices are a fraction of Swift's prices…as well as Luke Combs and the Billy Joel/Stevie Nicks tours, all of which are also going through Arrowhead Stadium in my local Metro area.
So, knowing that the original ticket prices were jacked up because of Taylor's demands, sets the stage of where our story starts. Then, before the tickets went on sale…she doubled down on each venue, offering two dates at each concert stop instead of one. This proves that she knew what she was doing prior to the sales.
And I know what you are thinking…”ok, that doesn't prove anything.” But it does. Ticketmaster is not the only promotions and booking agency out there. Yes, they are one of the largest ones…but there are also other larger ones out there. For instance, let's look at the Dead and Company's final tour this summer. They are playing stadiums as well. Some rather large, like during the 4th of July weekend, they are in Boulder, CO playing a three day festival there (I call it a festival because…well…it is The Dead and it is three days in a row. It will be fun regardless). This is not a Live Nation's show. At least not from the last time I looked or talked to anyone about it. Instead, it is an AEG show. They are handling everything for this tour stop.
So with that being said, there are other venues out there that Swift's people could have selected, other production companies that they could have worked with. They choose to work with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. No one forced them too. Swift wanted to perform at the largest venues that she could to turn as much profit as she could for this tour. That is why she selected the venues that she did, to hold as many fans as possible. She even doubled down in those cities to increase her profit without having to add more tour stops along the way. If she didn't want to work with Ticketmaster or Live Nation…she had the choice not to. All of this was her doing, no one else's. Also, the issues with Ticketmaster and their website and fees have been known for a LONG time. Anyone who has been to a concert and bought their tickets from them over the past 30 years have known this. It is not anything new. But Ticketmaster is not the only ticket outlet out there either. Swift and her team could have selected any other outlet they wanted if they went with different venues. But again, they didn't.
So let's sit back for a second and look. Swift's people knew what they were doing when they started to book this show. They had full control over everything. They selected who they wanted to work with, and it doesn't matter if they want to admit it or not. It is just the way the world works. By them calling wolf and blaming Ticketmaster for everything and saying that they had no choice but to work with them is shady, and I actually congratulate Live Nation and Ticketmaster for being the bigger people here and not pointing fingers and doing the blame game in return.
Yes, their website failed when the presale tickets went live. No one is denying that. But for Swift putting all the blame on them and saying they had no choice…100% incorrect.