If Taylor Swift broke Ticketmaster, why does DOJ’s Live Nation lawsuit invoke a little déjà vu?

Many years before Taylor Swift pointed fingers at Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment, Eddie Vedder and the rest of Pearl Jam did some finger-pointing of their own. “Taylor Swift Broke Ticketmaster!” That was the gist of headlines two years ago, when Swift’s Eras Tour resulted in a ticket-sales fiasco of epic proportions. A group of TSwift fans did file a class action lawsuit against Ticketmaster over its handling of the Eras Tour when a planned public sale of tickets was canceled because of what the ticketing agency described as “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems” resulting in “insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.” And now, the U.S. Department of Justice, 29 states and the District of Columbia are riding in on a Beyoncé-level white horse, filing an anti-monopoly lawsuit against Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment. Citron pointed out that Costa Mesa’s ETM Entertainment Network, the startup company Pearl Jam had chosen to go with for its tour, “has no experience handling such a large event and its automated technology is unproven.” He cited the band manager’s concerns about possible “hiccups.” “Had Pearl Jam worked with us,” he wrote, “its fans could have seen the band a year ago for essentially the same price they’re paying now, and the industry would have been spared this pointless, protracted battle.” Eddie Vedder, performing at Bonnaroo in Tennessee in 2008, was a figurehead in the fight against Ticketmaster in the 1990s. “And if that means they’re going to have to play some Ticketmaster shows, they’re going to play Ticketmaster shows.” Five years after Pearl Jam defected, ETM declared itself out of cash and handed its business — including ticket sales for the San Diego Sports Arena, a portion of L.A. Dodgers seats and several other teams and events — over to Ticketmaster.