Jack Antonoff Calls Out Industry ‘Merch Taxes’ That ‘F*ck’ Rising Touring Musicians ‘So Hard’

Jack Antonoff logged on to social media to share his thoughts about touring. A longtime producer and collaborator with Taylor Swift, Antonoff’s series of posts came just hours after Swift took to Instagram with some angry feelings toward Ticketmaster. “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,” Swift wrote.

Following the disastrous presale (and general on-sale ticketing cancellation) for her 2023 The Eras Tour, a significant amount of fans have rallied to petition to dismantle the ticketing monopoly. And, it appears to be working, as today the Justice Department has reportedly started a formal investigation into Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s joint business venture.

“while we are having the discussion can venues simply stop taxing merch of artists? this is literally the only way you make money when you start out touring,” Antonoff wrote, speaking to the larger issues in the music industry that prevent rising artists from ever turning profits. “the more we make it tenable for young and small artists to make a living on the road the more great music we will get.”

“touring is one of the most honest ways to make a living. some of the hardest and most heartfelt work you can do. so why must [they] f*ck artist so hard?” he continued. “simpel solutions, stop taxing merch, stop lying to artists about costs of putting on shows, include artists in more areas of revenue. the stories i could tell from my years touring are bananas. young artists on tour are the last to see any money.”

Oh, and Antonoff also offered some more choice words for Kanye West. “ok one more, kanye a little bitty little b*tch,” Antonoff ended before noting he had to get back to work.