Taylor Swift’s Ticketmaster Woes Revive Pearl Jam’s Own Past Struggles for Fans

Taylor Swift fans’ fury over  Ticketmaster’s service meltdown Tuesday has highlighted a common complaint about the company’s lack of competition. Legislators and fans have pushed back against Ticketmaster before. Prior to combining with concert promoter Live Nation in 2010, Ticketmaster held a virtual monopoly on ticketing in the U.S.  In 1994, Pearl Jam attempted to take Ticketmaster to task for the service fees it charged its fans. The grunge band filed a civil complaint with the Justice Department alleging monopolistic and anti-consumer practices, which led to an investigation but ultimately no resolution, News @ Northeastern 
reported. The band did not play any Ticketmaster venues on their 1995 tour, which was logistically challenging despite low ticket prices and service fees. 

According to Kelly Curtis, Pearl Jam’s manager at the time, the band played at “weird places like a ski resort in Lake Tahoe and a fairground in San Diego” because Ticketmaster controlled most large venues. Booking a show was almost impossible in L.A. or New York. As a result of Pearl Jam’s refusal to play Ticketmaster venues, the band toured very little to promote its albums for the next three years, playing almost exclusively international shows when it did. While Pearl Jam’s complaint was quietly dismissed, Swift’s success has not gone unnoticed by the band’s fans. Amid the Ticketmaster controversy, some Twitter users poked fun at Swift’s and Pearl Jam’s drastically different outcomes when they faced off against the ticket distribution company. Read more to find out what they had to say.

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‘First time?’

One user imagined how an older generation of music fans would view the reignited conflict, writing, “Pearl Jam fans watching Taylor’s Swifties take up the fight,” with a screenshot of actor James Franco with a noose around his neck from the movie The Ballad of Buster Scruggs along with the text, “First time?”

‘Swifties are gonna do what Pearl Jam couldn’t’

Another poster believes in the power of the Swift fandom to take down Ticketmaster, tweeting, “Swifties are gonna do what Pearl Jam couldn’t and finally break these evil f—.”

‘Pearl Jam has been saying since 1994.’

A Twitter user and reporter gave Pearl Jam their credit for standing up for fans, but was not so optimistic about Swift’s outcome, commenting, “Pearl Jam has been saying since 1994.The band, at the peak of their success, boycotted Ticketmaster for 14 months.But it was impossible to tour without Ticketmaster because of the company’s monopoly on venues.They went to DOJ. That also failed.” 

’30 years ago’

Meanwhile, a poster had some good-natured shade for Pearl Jam fans. “If 30 years ago Pearl Jam fans were as organized as Swifties.”

‘The potential of intergenerational cooperation’

For one tweeter, “Taylor Swift fans finally killing Ticketmaster and finishing the job Pearl Jam started nearly 30 years ago demonstrates the potential of intergenerational cooperation against those that abuse power.”

‘Get their a—’

Likewise, this Twitter user appeared to also believe in the spirit of collaboration and teamwork, writing, “Pearl Jam tried to warn everyone about Ticketmaster. They SUED them. They were hoping other bands and artists would join in…and none did. Not one. Taylor Swift fans – get their asses!”