Taylor Swift vs The World | Ticketmaster Trouble | 4

0:13Mid-November 2022. Taylor Swift is on her private jet 40 ,000 feet above the Atlantic. She's flying back from the MTV Europe Music Awards in Dusseldorf, Germany. She came away with an armful of trophies and the promise of jet lag. Out the airplane window, the night sky looks plush and velvety. Swift's feeling relaxed after a successful trip. But as always, she's got a million things on her mind. She leans back against the beige leather chair and turns to her publicist, Tree Payne. Do you think people are going to keep being mad at me for flying private? Payne tucks her long red hair behind her ear.

0:55No, I made it clear that you weren't the only person using the plane. I told the presser jet is loaned out regularly to other people. Swift came under fire a few months ago when a sustainability marketing firm released a report declaring her the biggest offender for climate emissions among celebrity private jet users. Swift nods. Right. I know. I just still worry it's going to look bad. Payne frowns at her phone. Wait, we've got something bigger to worry about. It looks like there's a problem with the pre-sale. Swift straightens up in her seat. Tickets for her upcoming Eras tour just went on sale on Ticketmaster for fans who signed up in advance.

1:36What do you mean, a problem with the pre-sale? Ticketmaster and Swift's team have been coordinating for weeks to prepare for this day. The presale is supposed to help with a massive demand for tickets. Fans had to sign up in advance to receive a unique purchasing code before they could buy a ticket. But apparently, the system isn't working. I'm seeing it all over Twitter, all over my mentions. Tons of people are saying they haven't been able to buy tickets. The website keeps crashing. Maybe the queue isn't working. I don't know yet. Swift's palms begin to sweat. Oh no, this is a disaster. Robert!

2:13She shouts down the plane aisle for her manager, Robert Allen. Allen's got gray hair and glasses. He's sleeping, but at the sound of Swift's voice, he jerks awake. What's going on? We don't know yet, but social media is saying something is going on with the pre-sale. This is really bad. How can I give the fans the experience they deserve if they can't even buy tickets? This is the biggest tour of my career. Alan looks worried. Oh, God, let me get Ticketmaster on the horn. Alan begins working the phone. Payne feverishly types and scrolls her pale face eliminated by the blue glow of her iPhone screen.

2:53Swift feels anxiety tightening around her throat. What are they saying, Tree? Payne shakes her head. A grim expression settles on her face. It's not good, Taylor. Swift needs to see for herself. She opens up Twitter. I'm a verified fan, but I waited hours and couldn't get a ticket. Taylor, I'm your biggest fan. If I don't see the Ares tour, I'm going to die. Oh my god, Tree, look at this. She holds out her phone to show a screenshot from the Ticketmaster website posted by a fan. 2 ,000 people ahead of you? This person's never going to be able to buy a ticket. Alan steps forward, holding the phone away from his mouth.

3:33Hey, I'm on with Ticketmaster. They say their sight has been hit by bots and scalpers. They're having to pause the presale. What? What do you mean, pause the presale? And exactly how many fans haven't been able to buy tickets? Alan mutters into his phone, then winces and turns back to Swift. They don't know yet, but it could be millions. Millions? This is unacceptable. Tell them they need to fix this now, or they're going to have a really big problem. millions of Swifties haven't been able to buy tickets to what is supposed to be the biggest tour of Swift's career. They're furious, and so is Swift.

4:15Now, she has to figure out how to put her anger to use, or risk losing the unwavering loyalty of her fans, and some serious money.

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6:51In the last episode, Taylor Swift successfully slayed the dragons of Scott Borchetta, her old label head, and Scooter Braun, the super manager who bought her masters. She beat them all by following through on her promise of re-recording old songs, an unexpected gambit that yielded her even more number one albums. This episode, Swift soars ever higher, her career reaching new peaks that didn't seem possible. But her struggles are magnified too. Now, Swift must take on the biggest live events company on the public market, Ticketmaster. This is Episode 4, Ticketmaster Trouble.

7:47November 2022. Swift is back in New York City at her luxurious Tribeca loft after her rocky flight home from Germany. She's assembled her team for a critical meeting to figure out how to handle her ticketing disaster. Her publicist, Tree Payne, her manager, Robert Allen, her dad, Scott, and several other members of Swift's management sit around a large wooden dining table. Swift places her palms flat on the table and looks around. Okay, so, someone tell me what the heck is going on. Alan pushes his glasses up his nose. He spent years as a tour manager and ticket fiascos are not new to him. All right, well, let me get everyone up to speed.

8:31As you all know, yesterday at 10 a.m. local time, Ticketmaster's pre-sale for verified fans went live. Fans with a registered code were supposed to be able to log in and buy tickets. That's not what happened. Payne interjects. Instead, all hell broke loose. Exactly. People had to wait in queues for hours. Some people reported getting kicked out of queues. If they did manage to get through to checkout, some of them had their payments declined. Tons of people said the site just crashed completely. Basically, a whole host of problems that prevented people from buying tickets. So, what is Ticketmaster doing about it?

9:07Well, yesterday they posted a statement saying they were postponing the West Coast presale to later today. The table erupts in shaking heads and disappointed faces. I just don't understand how this happened. We knew the demand was going to be high. They assured us they were ready for it. Alan holds up his hands. I know, I know. Look, I talked to my guy there and he said more than three and a half million people are pre-registered for the pre-sale. That's the biggest in history. Swift's dad lets out a whistle. Pretty impressive, Taylor. Thanks, Dad. But I still don't understand. How many of those people were able to get tickets?

9:47They've told me that of those three and a half million, around one and a half million were sent codes for the sale. The remaining two million verified fans were placed on a waiting list on the small chance that there'd be some tickets after the others had purchased theirs. All in all, we sold two million tickets. Swift looks up as she calculates. Wait, so we've sold two million tickets, but we still have two million fans who haven't even had the chance to buy tickets? Correct. Swift looks at him, eyes furrowed under her blonde bangs. The general sale is supposed to start on November 18th. That's in two days, people.

10:26She stands up and begins pacing around the dining room, thinking about everything the era's tour is supposed to represent. A love letter to her fans in the form of three hours of songs from across the span of her career. I mean, this is the heiress tour. This is supposed to be for the fans. It's not acceptable that my fans can't even buy tickets in the first place. She pauses and turns to the table. What are we going to do about the general sale? Alan runs his fingers through his hair. I don't have a clear answer from them. There might not even be enough tickets left to sell. They say they don't know yet.

11:02They're still crunching the numbers. Swift's dad jumps up from the table. They're still crunching the numbers? What the hell kind of business are they running over there? I don't know, but it's not a good one. Swift begins pacing again. What can we do so that all the fans who want to come can actually come to the show? Add more dates? Alan leans back. Taylor, the demand is just too high. You'd need to play a stadium show every single night for the next two and a half years to satisfy everyone. Look, honey, even if you added more dates, there's no guarantee Ticketmaster would even be able to sell the tickets.

11:38Look how they messed up the first time. Well, screw Ticketmaster. Let's sell our tickets with someone else. There isn't anyone else. There's gotta be. Alan shakes his head. Nope. None of these other small ticketing sites can handle the scale that Ticketmaster can. And if Ticketmaster can't handle your demand, no one else will. Plus, Live Nation would be pissed if you used another ticket vendor. Swift nods. It's unbelievable, but they've got us over a barrel. Did you see what AOC said on Twitter? Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly. Its merger with Live Nation should never have been approved, and they need to be reined in.

12:18Well, how can we make them be better? They can't just screw over my fans like this and get away with it. Scott Swift shrugs. That's the problem with monopolies. They're anti-competitive. They have no incentive to be better. Dad, I love you, but I can't talk about the free market right now. Swift collapses back into the chair and puts her head in her hands. So what do we do? We wait to hear from Ticketmaster. Alright. Keep me updated. All Swift can do now is wait. But she might not like what she sees.

13:01November 16, 2022. Ticketmaster headquarters in West Hollywood. Inside a glass-walled building, members of Ticketmaster's C-suite are gathered for an emergency meeting. The boardroom is as gray as the faces assembled. Live Nation CEO Michael Rapinoe is sitting at the head of the table. dark brown hair slicked back off his stubbly face. As the head of Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company, he also oversees Ticketmaster. Rapinoe kicks things off. All right, what are we doing about Taylor Swift? Joe Berktold, Live Nation's CFO, pushes up his sleeves. He's got long silver hair and glasses. Look, I'm not going to mince words.

13:43What happened yesterday was a disaster, but there's not much we can do. Joe, we're getting slaughtered online for this. we have to do something. Burke told Shrugs. There just aren't enough tickets for the demand. Simple as that. But our website crashed. Our verified fan system completely failed. Caitlin Henrich, Live Nation's head of communications, jumps in. I think it would be wise to come up with some talking points for how to address these failings with fans. Rapinoe snaps his fingers. I think we need to talk about scalpers and bots. They're obviously part of the problem here. If we say it was the scalpers that made it impossible to buy tickets.

14:19They'll be mad at them instead of us. We have a bigger problem. The general sale. We just can't do it. What do you mean we just can't do it? There isn't enough inventory. Pretty much everything is already sold out. Plus our site might crash again, which would just make us look even worse. Henrik nods. I agree. We can't take another hit like this. All right. Well, someone's going to need to tell Swift's camp. We're also going to need to put out a public statement. People are mad. Very, very mad. And we need to explain what went wrong with the pre-sale. That makes sense. I can get you some figures.

14:58Perfect. I'll start drafting a memo. Ticketmaster has a plan of action, but its inaction in adequately preparing for the volume of demand from Swift's fans has already cost them big.

15:22Mid-November 2022. Swift is at home in her apartment noodling on the piano. Even though she just released a new album, Midnight's, she's constantly songwriting, especially when she's having big feelings. It's her way of processing, and she has a lot of stress to process right now. Her phone buzzes. It's a link from pain. Swift clicks on it and sees a tweet from Ticketmaster. Due to the extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on sale for Taylor Swift the Airas Tour has been cancelled? Swift's stomach drops.

16:04Even though she knew this was coming, seeing it in writing feels like a gut punch. Her fans are going to be so disappointed, and she hates upsetting them. She scrolls down and starts reading the comments. Taylor Swift better finally address the situation. It's gone too far. Oh, God. Just then, her white cat Olivia Benson jumps onto her lap. She's named after a character in Taylor's favorite TV show, Law & Order SVU. The cat rubs herself against Taylor's arm and purrs. Oh, Olivia, what are we going to do about this? I'm letting so many people down. No, you're right. I'm not letting them down. Ticketmaster is.

16:52They should be mad at Ticketmaster, not me. We should all be mad at Ticketmaster. She picks up her phone. Olivia Benson settles in her lap. Taylor Swift opens up the Notes app and begins typing. Well, it goes without saying that I'm extremely protective of my fans. We've been doing this for decades together, and over the years, I've brought so many elements of my career in-house. I've done this specifically to improve the quality of my fans' experience by doing it myself with my team, who care as much about my fans as I do. It's really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to watch mistakes happen with no recourse.

17:36I'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 readjusts on the piano stool and keeps typing. She's ferocious with a pen and the iPhone keyboard. She is not sparing Ticketmaster an ounce of blame. The next day, she posts the statement to Instagram Stories. And the day after that, Ticketmaster makes a lengthy apology to Taylor Swift fans and publishes an in-depth explanation of what went wrong, blaming the fiasco again on unprecedented demand and bots. But the damage has been done. Swifties are incensed, and Americans are starting to see a big problem with America's ticketing industry.

18:27Now, this battle is going all the way to Capitol Hill.

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19:49January 24th, 2023. Washington, D.C. Senators and lawmakers are gathered in the Hart Senate office building, a large white office block right by Capitol Hill. White marble lines the walls behind a large wooden desk where a committee of senators are getting ready to grill Ticketmaster. Senator Dick Durbin, a serious-looking elder statesman in a black suit, begins the meeting. This hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee will come to order. I'd like to welcome everyone to today's hearing. He looks up and addresses the room. Seated in front of him is Joe Berktold, Live Nation's CFO. I'd now like to turn to the subject of today's hearings, which focus on competition in the ticketing and live entertainment industry.

20:35Berktold is under intense pressure. The same day Swift published her statement disparaging Ticketmaster, the New York Times reported that the Justice Department was looking into Live Nation, Ticketmaster's parent company. The Justice Department is concerned that Live Nation has become too powerful. Apparently, the investigation predated Swift's ticketing debacle, but her harsh words and her fans' rage seem to have influenced them to act. Then, Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and Republican Senator Mike Lee announced that they also wanted to look into Ticketmaster's potential monopoly. Senator Klobuchar, dressed today in a plum-colored jacket, takes the mic.

21:18This is clearly a bipartisan endeavor. We have interest from both sides of the aisle. It's a testament to Swift's powers that she can unite America's deeply divided political landscape. And her fans are powerful. Their loud complaints got the attention of their elected representatives in D.C. A few Swifties even came together to file a lawsuit against Ticketmaster, seeking damages of$2 ,500 for their inability to get tickets. These fans say Ticketmaster is a monopoly. And Senator Klobuchar agrees. I believe in capitalism, and to have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition. You can't have too much consolidation, something that unfortunately for this country, as an ode to Taylor Swift, I will say, we know all too well.

22:12Klobuchar smiles. It's a reference to a Swift song from her 2012 album Red. Swift isn't at the hearing, but her songs, and fans, are. Klobuchar lays out her case. She points out that through Ticketmaster, Live Nation controls 70 % of the big concert market. She also notes that Live Nation owns many of the major venues and manages lots of big artists. Klobuchar even alleges that operators are scared of upsetting Live Nation in case Live Nation retaliates by barring acts from performing at its venues. This is all a definition of monopoly because Live Nation is so powerful that it doesn't even need to exert pressure.

22:58It doesn't need to threaten because people just fall in line. Thank you, Senator Klobuchar. The hearing continues with Senator Mike Lee, a brown-haired Republican from Utah, picking up the baton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. He begins by making a joke about his relationship with Senator Klobuchar. Once again, she's chair captain and I'm on the bleachers. It's another Swift lyric from one of her first hits, 2008's You Belong With Me. The lawmakers are having fun, but it's time to get serious. The senators begin digging into Berktold, grilling him on the fact that Live Nation signs venues into multi-year contracts.

23:36Those lengthy contracts mean the venue has to guarantee to work only with Live Nation for three, five, or seven years, preventing competitors from getting in the door. At every turn, Burke told Stonewalls, insisting that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have followed all the laws. He blames artists, blames bots, basically blames everyone but Ticketmaster. We do not decide how many tickets go on sale and when, and we do not set service fees. Pricing and distribution strategies are determined by the artists and their teams. He insists that Ticketmaster actually faces lots of competition from other companies, including Tickets.com.

24:23He even says he'd love further support of additional laws to inhibit bots. But the hearing committee is not buying it. Senator Blumenthal, a weathered Democrat from Connecticut, digs into Berktold. May I suggest respectfully that Ticketmaster ought to look in the mirror and say, I'm the problem. It's me. It's another Taylor Swift lyric, this time weaponized against her biggest foe. By the end of the hearing, it's clear that Swift is the one thing Democrats and Republicans can agree on. For Swift, the hearing is a win. Her cause has been championed by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. As for Ticketmaster, the subcommittee kicks the question of whether or not the company is a monopoly to the DOJ, which means big problems for Michael Rapinoe and Joe Berktold.

25:18And now, Taylor Swift Inc. is turning its attention to another industry, Hollywood.

25:32May 2023, the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Swift is backstage in her green room after soundcheck going through some last-minute prep for tonight's show. It's her first of three nights in the city, but her dad wants to talk to her about something else. Taylor, I've been thinking about the movie. Swift looks up. So have I. Swift is working on a concert movie for the Eras tour. Swift and her team have hired a director, and they're paying for the production costs of the movie themselves. It's a way to capitalize on the popularity of the tour, as well as appease fans who weren't able to score tickets themselves.

26:15Recently, Swift and her team have been meeting with Hollywood Studios about releasing the movie in theaters. Justin Bieber's concert movie Believe made more than$30 million at the box office, so Swift could expect her film to do at least that. This whole Ticketmaster thing has made me reconsider some things. We've tried so hard to make sure that we're in control of the fan experience. But having Ticketmaster as the middleman just messed up this tour in so many ways. Scott nods. Even though the tour has been going fantastically so far, Swift is still bothered by how so many of her fans were unable to get tickets.