The anti-monopoly movement is having a moment. Gone are the days of associating evil market dominance with Standard Oil or Carnegie Steel, Bill Gates' petulance during deposition, or how it feels to desperately mortgage Marvin Gardens because you landed at the hotel on Park Place.
The Swifties—as Swift's stans are affectionately nicknamed—experienced the destructive power of the live event and ticketing monopoly firsthand.Amazon's Antitrust Paradox ," our government's outdated enforcement standards"fail[ed] to register" monopolistic harm. Since then, millions more Americans have been awakened to the sinister power of monopolies in our economy—and the exciting political opportunities to rein them in.
Last week, legions of new anti-monopolists were born. They have enormous potential to change the game: shrewd social media skills, undying loyalty, and encyclopedic knowledge. They're Taylor Swift's superfans—and they just might be the reason that the governmentThe Swifties—as Swift's stans are affectionately nicknamed—experienced the destructive power of the live event and ticketing monopoly firsthand.
"Ticket prices may fluctuate, upon demand, at any time," read an ominous warning on the Ticketmaster website. And they did: Due to their"dynamic pricing" system, which vaults ticket costs to a maximum market rate, fans reported buying tickets for thousands upon thousands of dollars, not including hefty fees, and prices spiked even higher on the secondary resale market.