NORTH PROVIDENCE – Like many Taylor Swift fans, Jessica Krizman of North Providence said she was excited to purchase tickets to see Swift when the artist announced her Eras Tour last November.
“I started liking Taylor when my younger sister dragged me to her ‘1989’ show, and then I started listening to her,” Krizman told The Breeze.
From there, she said, going to Swift’s shows became a nice tradition for her and her sister Nicole. In the past, buying tickets wasn’t a problem, especially from the company Ticketmaster. So when the time came to purchase tickets for her next shows at Gillette Stadium in May, Krizman registered for “verified fan” and was told via email that she would be receiving a pre-sale code to buy tickets.
“We never ended up getting a code,” she said.
According to their website, Ticketmaster Verified Fan is committed to getting more tickets into the hands of fans fairly. A random selection of registered fans receives a unique code allowing them to enter the pre-sale and purchase tickets before the general public. Ticketmaster Verified Fan doesn’t guarantee everyone tickets, but the unique codes allow more fans who intend to go to the show to get tickets, rather than ticket bots.
Krizman is one of many who were frustrated by the experience. She soon became part of the lawsuit with 355 Swiftie plaintiffs against Live Nation, the multinational entertainment company that owns Ticketmaster.
Attorney Jennifer Kinder, representing Krizman and the many fans throughout the country, said it is essential for communities to understand how the national issue of Ticketmaster’s monopoly is felt at the local level.
“Our lawsuit is not about getting tickets, per se, but about Live Nation’s business practices that violate antitrust laws and fraudulently inflate ticket prices,” she said in a statement.
Though she didn’t get tickets the first time they went on sale, Krizman ended up purchasing floor seats for Swift’s instantly iconic rain show last Saturday, but for a big price. She purchased each ticket for $1,500.
Krizman told The Breeze she hopes Live Nation can take some accountability, especially for future experiences with more artists and their fans as the experience to buy tickets now causes anxiety and frustration.
“Everyone is excited to experience these events, it just takes away these opportunities,” she said.
In 2022, said Kinder, Live Nation grossed $44.344 billion in profit, which was a 127.13 percent increase from 2021. Simultaneously, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino’s compensation package grew from $13.8 million in 2021 to $139 million in 2022. Rapino recently likened buying one or two concert tickets a year as more affordable than going to Disneyland or purchasing a Gucci bag, said Kinder.
“This statement demonstrates how out of touch Rapino is with the economic reality of the average concert goer,” she said. “We are enthusiastic that prominent musicians, such as Garth Brooks and Courtney Love, have stated that Ticketmaster’s monopoly is bad for artists and fans.”
I work at a retail store in Patriot Place and know that there were tickets that sold for $7,000 per ticket. Not for anything people, but even if you have the money to spend that much money to go see any concert is simply stupid. It must be nice to have more money than brains. I very much admire Taylor Swift as a person, she is truly one of the nicest and most generous people you will ever meet. But to pay $3,000 to go see her in concert is stupid. If you have that much money to blow please donate it to the Hasbro Children's Hospital, trust me, Taylor would have more respect for you if you did that.
It must be so nice to have $3,000 to spend on tickets when many are having trouble affording groceries in this pathetic economy. Obviously the CEO is happy with his incredible salary boost.
We’ve recently revised our comment policy to help us be more consistent and to be in keeping with our goal to promote a better community conversation.
If a comment is deleted, rather than complain about it, simply try again by modifying the verbiage.
Comments that will be deleted include:
Those that include threatening, derogatory, obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist, sexist or sexually-oriented language.
This includes any name-calling/nicknames of people both on the local and national level.
Those with accusations or allegations that can’t be proven, or that try to build a negative narrative about one person or entity
over time through a clearly coordinated campaign. If you believe the backstory really needs to be shared,
send us a letter to the editor or a story pitch with your name and contact information.
Those with outright lies or falsehoods.
Please use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know if you believe a comment was allowed in error.
What we at The Breeze would truly like to see are comments that add history and context to a story or that use criticism constructively.
(2) comments
I work at a retail store in Patriot Place and know that there were tickets that sold for $7,000 per ticket. Not for anything people, but even if you have the money to spend that much money to go see any concert is simply stupid. It must be nice to have more money than brains. I very much admire Taylor Swift as a person, she is truly one of the nicest and most generous people you will ever meet. But to pay $3,000 to go see her in concert is stupid. If you have that much money to blow please donate it to the Hasbro Children's Hospital, trust me, Taylor would have more respect for you if you did that.
It must be so nice to have $3,000 to spend on tickets when many are having trouble affording groceries in this pathetic economy. Obviously the CEO is happy with his incredible salary boost.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Comments that will be deleted include:
- Those that include threatening, derogatory, obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist, sexist or sexually-oriented language.
This includes any name-calling/nicknames of people both on the local and national level.
- Those with accusations or allegations that can’t be proven, or that try to build a negative narrative about one person or entity
over time through a clearly coordinated campaign. If you believe the backstory really needs to be shared,
send us a letter to the editor or a story pitch with your name and contact information.
- Those with outright lies or falsehoods.
Please use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know if you believe a comment was allowed in error.What we at The Breeze would truly like to see are comments that add history and context to a story or that use criticism constructively.