There is a common misconception that every Taylor Swift fan is a teenage girl because she was a teenage girl when she became a global sensation, and people seem to get hung up on that. The reality is that Swift has been doing this for over a decade, which means all of her teenage fans have grown up into millennials who have too many credit cards that they are not afraid to use on over-priced tickets. They can’t buy a house anyway, so why even save money?
But that ticket-buying process quickly became a chaotic mess of thousands (millions? billions?) of fans waiting in the Ticketmaster queue for upwards of three hours, bringing the site crumbling down in shambles. To make matters worse, Resident Millenial Defender and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to remind swifties and the world that maybe Ticketmaster should not exist at all.
Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.
Break them up.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2022
Ticketmaster merged with Livenation in 2010, which caused a ripple effect throughout the music industry, with one of the consequences being an upcharge in service fees and charges. Things have only gotten worse over the years as artists begin touring again after COVID-related delays, which is why more artists have been openly critical of the company’s current model. Now, buying tickets has become so financially and emotionally draining, government officials had to step in!
Obviously, many agreed with AOC’s comments, as both artists and officials broke down just how cruel the service can be towards fans who are just trying to see their favorite artists.
Swifties being radicalized against monopolies and getting ready to do some anti-trust lobbying good luck ticketmaster
— Elamin Abdelmahmoud (@elamin88) November 15, 2022
There’s about to be an anti Ticketmaster proposal introduced in the House because AOC didn’t get her tickets either https://t.co/kAy6HZHXYJ
— elz
| she/her (@ADropOfMagic) November 15, 2022
I hope that an unintended outcome of this @taylorswift13 @Ticketmaster disaster is that The Eras Tour inadvertently becomes responsible for breaking up monopolies. @taylornation13 https://t.co/5NSdQcyg7L
— it me (@space_femalien) November 15, 2022
swifties watching their ticketmaster queue spin pic.twitter.com/VgMSc9hzCC
— I think you should leave turbo team (@ITYSL) November 15, 2022
Ticketmaster is destroying live music.
Their scam fees now cost as much as 78% of a ticket. They control the events, the venues, even the artists.
There’s a movement pushing the Justice Department to take on their monopoly. @Doctorow breaks it down. pic.twitter.com/Ai0AwuEGOX
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) November 15, 2022
Mastermind theory: Taylor knew this and knew her ticket sales would overwhelm and destroy them. checkmate, she couldn’t lose. https://t.co/ZXuUbWoWUA
— Mike Golic Jr (@mikegolicjr) November 15, 2022
https://t.co/5XA9672juJ pic.twitter.com/K7o1IzzFWg
— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) November 15, 2022
Cortez has voiced support for Swift in the past, most recently when she went head-to-head with Scooter Braun over control of her masters. Yes! It’s funny that Taylor Swift fans are going after a giant company but it’s also true! Ticketmaster is known for surging their prices for high-traffic events, and Swifties are inherently high-traffic people. Maybe this will actually spark change …or Taylor will just invite AOC personally to her concert. Who knows?! Either way, if you’re in line for Taylor Swift tickets, STAY IN LINE!