United Together

Ball State University’s 43rd annual Unity Week

Nov. 17, 2022, Ticketmaster announced on Twitter it had “insufficient remaining ticket inventory” and could not hold the general ticket sale.

Swift made a statement about the sale Nov. 18, 2022.

“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them multiple times if they could handle this kind of demand, and we were assured they could,” Swift wrote in an Instagram post. “It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”

What is Ticketmaster?

According to their website, Ticketmaster was founded in 1976 in Phoenix by college staffers Albert Leffler and Peter Gadwa, as well as businessman Gordon Gunn III. Today, the company is established in 31 countries.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged into one company under the approval of the United States Department of Justice and FTC Jan. 25, 2010.

Since 1995, Ticketmaster has had 80 percent of the market share for primary concert ticketing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Ticketmaster and Live Nation are a good example of what is likely a monopoly,” Erik Nesson, department chair of the Department of Economics and associate professor of economics at Ball State, said. “They control a large portion of ticket sales and sports sales.”

He said a monopoly is a market where one seller dominates the marketplace.

The government is able to play a role in monitoring the status of companies to ensure there isn’t an active monopoly. Nesson said the government will step in when two companies want to merge together, in an attempt to keep monopolies in check.

The government will also monitor collusion, which is when companies start having noncompetitive practices, Nesson said.

An example of a past monopoly the government has interfered with is Microsoft Corp.

On Nov. 5, 1999, a federal judge declared that Microsoft as a monopoly. The government decided Microsoft had a large portion of market power and was using that power to keep other companies from having a fair chance at participating in the market.

On Jan. 24, the Senate Judiciary Committee had a hearing regarding Ticketmaster and its potential of being a monopoly. At the hearing, senators debated possible action, including making tickets non-transferable to cut down on scalping and requiring more transparency in ticket fees.

Ticketmaster and The United States Government

In 1994, Pearl Jam, a Seattle-based rock band, was set to go on tour.

Ticketmaster was a quickly growing business, controlling the ticketing for some of the most popular venues and artists at the time, making most of its profit out of service fees.

Pearl Jam laid out their pricing guidelines for the tour, stating Ticketmaster charged $1.08 in service fees, creating an overall ticket cost of $18, according to the Associated Press.

At this time, Ticketmaster was operating on a sale system that had a $4-$15 service fee, according to the Associated Press.

Pearl Jam canceled their touring plans and filed an antitrust complaint against Ticketmaster, which triggered a federal investigation into the company’s alleged monopoly.

Pearl Jam claimed Ticketmaster was abusing its