Hundreds of Taylor Swift fans are allowed to proceed with antitrust allegations against Ticketmaster. Court allows monopoly lawsuit over “Eras” tour chaos.
Taylor Swift supporters have won an important legal victory. A California federal court is allowing them to proceed with antitrust charges against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation. The lawsuit is related to the chaotic advance sales for the “Eras” tour in November 2022.
The current decision represents a turning point in the legal dispute that has been going on for three years. An earlier version of the lawsuit was dismissed in May 2025 due to legal deficiencies. Now, on Monday, November 24, Federal Judge George H. Wu found that the revised antitrust claims were sufficiently substantiated to continue the proceedings.
Monopoly allegations at the center of the indictment
According to “Billboard,” a total of 357 fans accuse the companies of eliminating all competition through their dominant market position both in the ticketing sector and at large concert venues. The plaintiffs cite the US Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to unbundle Live Nation and Ticketmaster.
According to the lawsuit, the monopoly position led to a defective sales system. During advance sales for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour, the platform collapsed under the weight of bots and scalpers – with the result that many Swifties had no opportunity to purchase tickets at face value.
Court rejects distinction between venues
Ticketmaster had argued that the fans’ lawsuit suffered from a fundamental problem: The Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit focused on contracts with arenas and amphitheaters, but not on stadiums where Swift performed her tour. Judge Wu rejected this argument, according to Billboard. In his justification, he stated that it was not clear from the existing allegations that the state’s lawsuit excluded stadiums. In addition, the court did not see any significant difference between arenas, amphitheaters and stadiums that would invalidate the plaintiffs’ reference to the government proceedings.
No conscious deception can be proven
While the antitrust allegations were admitted into evidence, Judge Wu separated other claims, according to Billboard. The allegations of breach of contract and fraud were not admitted. The plaintiffs had claimed that Ticketmaster had made false promises: The company had promised to keep bots and scalpers away from advance sales. In addition, priority access was incorrectly promised for Swifties who had purchased MIDNIGHTS merchandise or tickets for the Lover Fest, which was canceled in 2020.
According to Judge Wu, the contractual claims fail because Ticketmaster never made these promises in legally enforceable agreements. The allegations of fraud were not valid because, according to the court, the company assumed that it had provided truthful information about the conditions of the advance sale.
“Plaintiffs have not adequately demonstrated that defendants made promises without any intent to perform,” Wu wrote in his ruling, according to Billboard. Relying on events after the advance sale cannot support a plausible theory of fraud.
The fans’ lawyer is satisfied
Jennifer Kinder, the Swifties’ attorney, expressed satisfaction in a statement to Billboard on Tuesday, November 25th: they are “thrilled to finally be heading toward a court date.” Ticketmaster has spent the past two years using every legal trick to get the lawsuit dismissed. Judge Wu has now decided that the company cannot avoid a jury trial. “The people of Los Angeles will decide the legality of Ticketmaster’s monopoly.”