Tennessee AG Isn't Shaking Off Ticketmaster's Swift Debacle

The Ticketmaster fumble on Tuesday during sales for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour wasn't just an annoyance for fans—it was a bungle that's caught the attention of Tennessee's attorney general. At a Wednesday video news conference, AG Jonathan Skrmetti announced that, due to multiple consumer complaints his office has received, he has started a consumer protection and antitrust probe into the ticket sales and distribution company, reports WSMV. "We need to look into exactly what was promised and whether that was provided," he said at the presser, per the Tennessean.

Skrmetti noted that his office would be looking into an alleged "severe lack of consumer support" during the presale event for Swift's three shows in the Nashville area, as well as whether Ticketmaster double-profited from ticket resales by scalpers, per WSMV. Among the issues fans encountered on Tuesday: hourslong waits, website crashes, and zero tickets available even with a presale code. Some potential concertgoers reported being told there was a five-day wait just to talk to customer support. “Now I've got my big girl job, I can buy my own tickets," says one disgruntled fan who waited for hours and still walked away empty-handed. "So, I was excited. Now I'm just disappointed."

Skrmetti stressed, per WATE: "There are no allegations, at this time, about any misconduct. But "we're talking about a company with an extremely dominant market share. ... Anytime you have that kind of concentration of market share, there's the risk that the lack of competition will not just drive up prices for consumers. It will also reduce the quality of the product." Skrmetti also pointed out that this issue hits especially hard in his state, whose capital of Nashville, aka "Music City," is also known as the nation's country music capital. "This is an important part of the local economy," he said, per the Tennessean. "There are a lot of people involved in concert production in this area." Anyone who wants to file a consumer complaint in the state over their own issues getting tickets can do so here. (More Ticketmaster stories.)