Irish Examiner view: Taylor Swift ticket scramble shows up a problem with Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster and Live Nation effectively formed a monopoly that may have implications for Irish musicians and their fans

Taylor Swift with the Best Longform Video award at Sunday's MTV Europe Music Awards. The ticketing issues for TayTay's 2023 tour highlights the problem with Ticketmaster and Live Nation. Picture: Ian West/PA

The popularity of American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, particularly among girls and younger women, is proverbial, and those legions of fans have made her one of the biggest stars on the planet. 

Taylor Swift's latest album, Midnights, is a runaway success, selling in huge numbers on every platform available — it has broken the record for most-streamed album by a female artist with 185m streams, for instance, breaking the previous record (which Swift also held).