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Wondery Plus Mid-November

0:25

2022. Taylor

0:27

Swift is on her private jet 40,000 feet

0:30

above the Atlantic. She's flying

0:32

back from the MTV Europe Music Awards

0:34

in Düsseldorf, Germany. She

0:37

came away with an armful of trophies and the

0:39

promise of jet lag. Out

0:42

the airplane window the night sky looks

0:44

plush and velvety. Swift's

0:46

feeling relaxed after a successful

0:48

trip, but as always she's

0:50

got a million things on her mind. She

0:53

leans back against the beige leather chair

0:55

and turns to her publicist, Tree

0:58

Payne. Do you think people

1:00

are going to keep being mad at me for flying private?

1:03

Payne tucks her long red hair behind her ear.

1:06

No, I made it clear that you weren't the only person

1:08

using the plane. I told the presser

1:10

jet is loaned out regularly to other people. Swift

1:13

came under fire a few months

1:15

ago when a sustainability marketing firm

1:18

released a report declaring her the

1:20

biggest offender for climate emissions among

1:22

celebrity private jet users. Swift

1:24

nods. Right. I

1:27

know. I just still worry it's going to look bad. Payne

1:31

frowns at her phone. Wait,

1:34

we've got something bigger to worry about. It

1:36

looks like there's a problem with the presale. Swift

1:39

straightens up in her seat. Tickets

1:41

for her upcoming eras tour just went on

1:43

sale on Ticketmaster for fans who signed up

1:45

in advance. What do you mean

1:47

a problem with the presale? Ticketmaster

1:49

and Swift's team have been coordinating for

1:52

weeks to prepare for this day. The

1:55

presale is supposed to help with a massive demand

1:57

for tickets. Fans had to sign up

1:59

in advance. to receive a unique purchasing code

2:01

before they could buy a ticket. But

2:04

apparently, the system isn't

2:06

working. I'm seeing it all over

2:08

Twitter, all over my mentions. Tons of

2:10

people are saying they haven't been able to buy tickets. The

2:13

website keeps crashing. Maybe the

2:15

queue isn't working. I don't know yet. Swift's

2:18

palms begin to sweat. Oh

2:21

no, this is a disaster. Robert!

2:24

She shouts down the plane aisle for her

2:26

manager Robert Allen. Allen's got

2:29

gray hair and glasses. He's

2:31

sleeping, but at the sound of Swift's

2:33

voice, he jerks away. Whoa, what's

2:35

going on? We don't know yet,

2:37

but social media is saying something is going on with the

2:39

presale. This is

2:41

really bad. How can I give

2:43

the fans the experience they deserve if they can't even

2:46

buy tickets? This is the biggest

2:48

tour of my career. Allen

2:50

looks worried. Oh god, let me

2:52

get Ticketmaster on the horn. Allen

2:55

begins working the phone. Pain

2:57

feverishly types and scrolls her pale face

3:00

eliminated by the blue glow of her

3:02

iPhone screen. Swift

3:04

feels anxiety tightening around her throat. What

3:07

are they saying, Tree? Pain

3:09

shakes her head. A grim expression

3:12

settles on her face. It's

3:14

not good, Taylor. Swift

3:16

needs to see for herself. She

3:19

opens up Twitter. I'm a

3:21

verified fan, but I waited hours and couldn't get

3:23

a ticket. Taylor, I'm your biggest

3:25

fan. If I don't see the errors tour, I'm going

3:27

to die. Oh my god, Tree, look at

3:29

this. She holds out her phone

3:31

to show a screenshot from the Ticketmaster website posted

3:34

by a fan. 2,000

3:36

people ahead of you? This person's never going to be

3:38

able to buy a ticket. Allen

3:41

steps forward, holding the phone away from his mouth.

3:43

Hey, I'm on with Ticketmaster. They say their

3:46

site has been hit by bots and scalpers.

3:48

They're having to pause the presale. What?

3:51

What do you mean pause the presale? And

3:54

exactly how many fans haven't been able to buy

3:56

tickets? Allen mutters into

3:58

his phone, then wince. and

4:00

turns back to Swift. They don't

4:03

know yet, but could

4:05

be millions. Millions? This

4:08

is unacceptable. Tell them they

4:10

need to fix this now, or they're going to have a

4:12

really big problem. Millions

4:15

of Swifties haven't been able to buy tickets

4:18

to what is supposed to be the biggest

4:20

tour of Swift's career. They're

4:22

furious, and so is

4:24

Swift. Now, she

4:27

has to figure out how to put her anger to youths,

4:31

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4:33

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Wondery, I'm David Brown and this is

6:17

BusinessWiz. In

6:44

the last episode, Taylor Swift successfully

6:47

slayed the dragons of Scott Borschetta,

6:49

her old label head, and

6:51

Scooter Braun, the super manager who

6:53

bought her masters. She

6:56

beat them all by following through on

6:58

her promise of re-recording old songs, an

7:01

unexpected gambit that yielded her even

7:03

more number one albums. This

7:06

episode, Swift soars ever higher,

7:08

her career reaching new

7:10

peaks that didn't seem possible, but

7:13

her struggles are magnified too. Now

7:17

Swift must take on the biggest live

7:19

events company on the public market, Ticketmaster.

7:25

This is episode four, Ticketmaster

7:28

Trouble. November

7:40

2022, Swift

7:42

is back in New York City at

7:44

her luxurious Tribeca Loft after her rocky

7:46

flight home from Germany. She's

7:49

assembled her team for a critical meeting

7:51

to figure out how to handle her

7:53

ticketing disaster. Her publicist, Tree

7:55

Payne, her manager, Robert Allen, her dad,

7:57

Scott, and several other members of the

7:59

band. of Swift's management sit around a

8:01

large wooden dining table. Swift

8:04

places her palms flat on the table and

8:06

looks around. Okay,

8:08

so someone tell me what

8:10

the heck is going on? Allen

8:13

pushes his glasses up his nose. He

8:15

spent years as a tour manager and ticket fiasco's

8:17

are not new to him. All right,

8:20

well let me get everyone up to speed. As

8:23

you all know, yesterday at 10

8:25

a.m. local time, Ticketmaster's presale for

8:27

verified fans went live. Fans

8:29

with a registered code were supposed to be able

8:32

to log in and buy tickets. That's

8:34

not what happened. Pain interjects.

8:37

Instead, all hell broke loose. Exactly.

8:40

People had to wait in queues for hours.

8:42

Some people reported getting kicked out of queues.

8:45

If they did manage to get through to

8:47

checkout, some of them had their payments declined.

8:50

Tons of people said the site just crashed

8:52

completely. Basically, a whole host of problems that

8:54

prevented people from buying tickets. So

8:57

what is Ticketmaster doing about it? Well,

9:00

yesterday they posted a statement saying they

9:02

were postponing the West Coast presale to

9:04

later today. The table

9:07

erupts in shaking heads and

9:09

disappointed faces. I

9:11

just don't understand how this happened. We knew the

9:13

demand was going to be high. They assured us

9:15

they were ready for it. Allen

9:18

holds up his hands. I know, I know.

9:20

Look, I talked to my guy there and

9:22

he said more than three and a half

9:24

million people are pre-registered for the presale. That's

9:26

the biggest in history. Swift's

9:29

dad lets out a whistle. Pretty

9:31

impressive, Taylor. Thanks dad. But

9:34

I still don't understand how many of

9:36

those people were able to get tickets. They

9:39

told me that of those three and a half

9:41

million, around one and a half million were sent

9:43

codes for the sale. The remaining

9:45

two million verified fans were placed on

9:47

a waiting list on the small chance

9:49

that there'd be some tickets after the

9:51

others had purchased theirs. All

9:54

in all, we sold two million

9:56

tickets. Swift looks up

9:58

as she calculates. So

10:01

we sold two million tickets. But we still

10:03

have two million fans who haven't even had

10:05

the chance to buy tickets. Correct.

10:08

Swift. Looks at him. Eyes burrowed

10:11

under her blonde bangs. The

10:13

general Sales Supposed to start on November

10:15

eighteenth. That's in today's people. She

10:18

stands up and begins pacing around the

10:21

dining room thinking about everything. Be errors

10:23

to we're supposed to represent. A

10:25

love letter to her fans in the form of

10:27

three hours of songs from across the span of

10:30

her career. Seen this is

10:32

the air source are supposed to be

10:34

for the sands. It's not acceptable that

10:36

my fans can even buy tickets in

10:38

the first place. She. Pauses and

10:40

turns to the table. What? Are

10:42

we going to do about the general sale? Allen

10:45

runs his fingers through his here. I

10:47

don't have a clear answer from. There.

10:50

Might not even be enough tickets left to

10:52

sell. May say they don't know yet. There's

10:54

still a crunching the numbers. Swiss dad jumps

10:57

up from the table. this still crunching the

10:59

numbers. what the hell kind of business are

11:01

they running over there? I did.

11:03

I don't know, but it's not a good one.

11:06

Swift. Begins pacing again. What?

11:09

Can we do that? All the sands you want to

11:11

clinton actually come to the shell. Add more

11:13

dates. Allen leans back. Taylor of the

11:15

demand is just too high. You need

11:17

to play a stadium show every single

11:19

night of the next two and a

11:21

half years to satisfy everyone. Look.

11:24

Honey, Even if he added more dates, there's

11:26

no guarantee Ticketmaster would even be able to

11:29

sell the tickets. Look how they messed up

11:31

the first time. Will. Screw Ticketmaster. Let's

11:33

sell our tickets as someone else. There.

11:36

Isn't anyone else? There's.

11:38

Gotta be. Allen shakes his head.

11:41

Nope. None of these other small

11:43

ticketing sides can handle the scale. the

11:45

Ticketmaster can and of ticketmaster can handle

11:47

your demand. No one else will. Plus.

11:50

Libation would be pissed if you used

11:52

another take it vendor. Swift.

11:55

Nods. It's unbelievable, but

11:57

they.us over a barrel. Did.

12:00

see what AOC said on Twitter? Daily

12:02

reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly. It's merger

12:04

with Live Nation should never have been approved

12:06

and they need to be rained in. Well

12:09

how can we make them be better? They can't

12:12

just screw over my fans like this and get

12:14

away with it. Scott Swift

12:16

shrugs. That's the problem with monopolies.

12:18

They're anti-competitive. They have no incentive

12:21

to be better. Dad, I love you

12:23

but I can't talk about the free market right now. Swift

12:26

collapses back into the chair and puts her

12:28

head in her hand. So

12:31

what do we do? We

12:33

wait to hear from Ticketmaster. Alright,

12:37

keep me updated. All

12:41

Swift can do now is

12:43

wait. But she

12:45

might not like what she sees. November

12:54

16th, 2022. Ticketmaster headquarters in

12:56

West Hollywood. Inside

12:59

a glass-walled building, members of Ticketmaster's

13:01

C-suite are gathered for an emergency

13:03

meeting. The boardroom is as

13:05

gray as the faces assembled. Live

13:08

Nation CEO Michael Rapinoe is sitting at

13:10

the head of the table. Dark brown

13:12

hair slicked back off his stubbly face.

13:15

As the head of Live Nation Ticketmaster's

13:17

parent company, he also

13:19

oversees Ticketmaster. Rapinoe

13:22

kicks things off. Alright, what

13:24

are we doing about Taylor Swift? Joe

13:27

Burke told Live Nation's CFO pushes

13:29

up his sleeves. He's got

13:31

long silver hair and glasses. Look,

13:33

I'm not going to mince words. What happened yesterday

13:35

was a disaster but there's not much we can

13:37

do. Joe, we're getting slaughtered online

13:40

for this. We have to do something. Burke

13:43

told shrugs. There just aren't

13:45

enough tickets for the demand. Simple as that. But

13:48

our website crashed. Our verified

13:50

fan system completely failed. Caitlin

13:52

Henrich, Live Nation's head of communications,

13:54

jumps in. I think it would

13:57

be wise to come up with some talking points for how to address

13:59

these feelings with Taylor Swift. Rapinoe

14:01

snaps his fingers. I think

14:03

we need to talk about scalpers and bots. They're

14:06

obviously part of the problem here. If

14:08

we say it was the scalpers that made it impossible

14:10

to buy tickets, they'll be mad at them instead of

14:12

us. We have

14:14

a bigger problem. The general sale. We

14:16

just can't do it. What

14:19

do you mean we just can't do it? There

14:21

isn't enough inventory. Pretty much everything is already

14:23

sold out. Plus our site

14:25

might crash again, which would just make us

14:27

look even worse. Henrik nods.

14:30

I agree. We can't take another hit like

14:32

this. Alright well, someone's

14:35

going to need to tell Swift's camp.

14:38

We're also going to need to put out a public statement. People

14:41

are mad. Very, very mad.

14:44

And we need to explain what went wrong with the

14:46

pre-sale. That makes sense. I

14:48

can get you some figures. Perfect. I'll

14:51

start drafting a memo. Ticketmaster

14:54

has a plan of action. But

14:57

its inaction and adequately preparing for

14:59

the volume of demand from Swift's

15:01

fans has already cost

15:03

them big. Mid-November

15:15

2022, Swift

15:17

is at home in her apartment noodling on the

15:19

piano. Even though she

15:21

just released a new album, Midnights, she's

15:24

constantly songwriting, especially

15:26

when she's having big feelings. It's

15:29

her way of processing. And

15:31

she has a lot of stress to process right now.

15:35

Her phone buzzes. It's a link from

15:38

pain. Swift clicks on it

15:40

and sees a tweet from Ticketmaster. Due

15:43

to the extraordinarily high demands on ticketing

15:45

systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to

15:47

meet that demand, tomorrow's public

15:49

on sale for Taylor Swift the Arrows tour

15:52

has been cancelled? If

15:54

Stomach drops. Even

15:56

though she knew this was coming, seeing it

15:58

in writing feels like a like a gut punch. Her

16:02

fans are going to be so disappointed

16:04

and she hates upsetting them. She

16:07

scrolls down and starts reading the comments. Taylor

16:10

Swift better finally address the situation.

16:13

It's gone too far. Oh

16:15

god. Just then,

16:17

her white cat Olivia Benson jumps onto

16:20

her lap. She's named

16:22

after a character in Taylor's favorite TV

16:24

show, Law and Order SVU. The

16:27

cat rubs herself against Taylor's arm and

16:29

purrs. Oh Olivia,

16:31

what are we going to do about this? I'm

16:34

letting so many people down. No,

16:39

you're right. I'm not letting

16:41

them down. Ticketmaster is. They

16:44

should be mad at Ticketmaster, not me. We

16:46

should all be mad at Ticketmaster. She

16:49

picks up her phone. Olivia Benson

16:51

settles in her lap. Taylor

16:54

Swift opens up the Notes app and begins

16:56

typing. Well, it

16:59

goes without saying that I'm extremely protective of

17:01

my fans. We've been

17:03

doing this for decades together and over the

17:06

years I've brought so many elements of my

17:08

career in-home. I've

17:10

done this specifically to improve the quality of

17:12

my fans experience by doing it myself with

17:14

my team who care as much about my

17:17

fans as I do. It's

17:19

really difficult for me to trust an

17:21

outside entity with these relationships and loyalties

17:23

and excruciating for me to watch mistakes

17:26

happen with no recourse. I'm

17:28

not going to make excuses for anyone because

17:30

we asked them multiple times if they could

17:32

handle this kind of demand and we were

17:35

assured they could. Swift

17:37

readjusts on the piano stool and

17:39

keeps typing. She's ferocious

17:41

with a pen and the iPhone keyboard. She

17:45

is not sparing Ticketmaster an ounce

17:47

of blame. The

17:50

next day she posts the statement to

17:53

Instagram stories and the day

17:55

after that Ticketmaster makes a

17:57

lengthy apology to Taylor Swift fans.

18:00

and publishes an in-depth explanation of what

18:02

went wrong, blaming the

18:04

fiasco again on unprecedented demand

18:06

and bots. But

18:09

the damage has been done. Swifties

18:12

are incensed, and

18:15

Americans are starting to see a

18:17

big problem with America's ticketing industry.

18:20

Now, this battle is

18:23

going all the way to Capitol Hill.

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24, 2023. Washington,

19:58

D.C. Senators

20:00

and lawmakers are gathered in the Hart

20:02

Senate Office Building, a large white office

20:04

block right by Capitol Hill. White

20:07

marble lines the walls behind a large

20:09

wooden desk where a committee of senators

20:11

are getting ready to grill ticket master.

20:14

Senator Dick Durbin, a serious-looking elder

20:16

statesman in a black suit, begins

20:18

the meeting. This hearing of the

20:20

Senate Judiciary Committee will come to order. I'd like

20:23

to welcome everyone to today's hearing. He

20:25

looks up and addresses the room. Seated

20:28

in front of him is Joe Berchtold, Live

20:30

Nation's CFO. I'd now

20:32

like to turn to the subject of today's hearing, which

20:35

focuses on competition in the ticketing

20:37

and live entertainment industry. Berchtold

20:41

is under intense pressure. The

20:44

same day, Swift published her statement

20:46

disparaging ticket master. The New York

20:48

Times reported that the Justice Department

20:51

was looking into Live Nation. Ticketmaster's

20:53

parent company. The Justice

20:55

Department is concerned that Live Nation has

20:57

become too powerful. Apparently,

21:00

the investigation predated Swift's ticketing

21:02

debacle, but her harsh

21:04

words and her fans' rage seem

21:07

to have influenced them to act. Then

21:10

Democratic Senators Amy Klobuchar and

21:12

Republican Senator Mike Lee announced

21:14

that they also wanted to

21:16

look into Ticketmaster's potential monopoly.

21:19

Senator Klobuchar, dressed today in a

21:21

plum-colored jacket, takes the mic. This

21:24

is clearly a bipartisan endeavor.

21:27

We have interest from both sides of the

21:29

aisle. It's a

21:31

testament to Swift's powers that she

21:33

can unite America's deeply divided political

21:35

landscape. And her

21:38

fans are powerful. Their

21:40

loud complaints got the attention of their

21:42

elected representatives in D.C. A

21:45

few Swifties even came together to file

21:47

a lawsuit against Ticketmaster, seeking damages of

21:49

$2,500 for their inability to get tickets.

21:53

These fans say Ticketmaster is a

21:56

monopoly. And Senator Klobuchar

21:59

agrees. I believe in

22:01

capitalism and to have a strong

22:03

capitalist system, you have to have competition.

22:05

You can't have too much

22:07

consolidation, something that unfortunately for

22:09

this country as a ode

22:12

to Taylor Swift, I will say

22:15

we know all too well. Klobuchar

22:18

smiles. It's a reference to a

22:20

Swift song from her 2012 album, Red. Swift

22:24

isn't at the hearing, but her songs

22:26

and bands are. Klobuchar

22:30

lays out her case. She

22:33

points out that through Ticketmaster,

22:35

Live Nation controls 70% of

22:37

the big concert market. She

22:40

also notes that Live Nation owns many

22:42

of the major venues and manages lots

22:44

of big artists. Klobuchar

22:46

even alleges that operators are scared

22:48

of upsetting Live Nation in case

22:51

Live Nation retaliates by barring acts

22:53

from performing at its venues. This

22:56

is all a definition of monopoly

22:58

because Live Nation is so powerful

23:00

that it doesn't even need to

23:02

exert pressure. It doesn't need

23:05

to threaten because people just fall

23:07

in line. The

23:10

hearing continues with Senator Mike Lee, a

23:12

brown-haired Republican from Utah, picking up the

23:15

baton. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. He begins

23:17

by making a joke about his relationship

23:19

with Senator Klobuchar. Once again,

23:21

she's chair captain and I'm on the bleachers.

23:24

With another Swift lyric from one of

23:26

her first hits, 2008's You Belong With

23:28

Me, the lawmakers

23:30

are having fun, but

23:33

it's time to get serious. The

23:35

senators begin digging into Berchtold, grilling

23:37

him on the fact that Live

23:39

Nation signs venues into multi-year contracts.

23:42

Those lengthy contracts mean the venue

23:44

has to guarantee to work only

23:46

with Live Nation for three, five,

23:49

or seven years, preventing competitors from

23:51

getting in the door. At

23:54

every turn, Berchtold stonewalled, insisting

23:56

that Ticketmaster and Live Nation

23:59

have followed all the laws. He

24:02

blames artists, blames bots,

24:04

basically blames everyone but

24:06

Ticketmaster. We do not decide

24:08

how many tickets go on sale and

24:11

when and we do

24:13

not set service fees. Pricing and

24:16

distribution strategies are determined by the artists

24:18

and their teams. He

24:21

insists that Ticketmaster actually faces lots

24:23

of competition from other companies, including

24:27

tickets.com. He even

24:29

says he'd love further support of additional

24:31

laws to inhibit bots. But

24:34

the hearing committee is not buying

24:36

it. Senator Blumenthal, a weathered Democrat

24:38

from Connecticut, digs in to Berchtold.

24:41

May I suggest respectfully that Ticketmaster ought to

24:44

look in the mirror and

24:46

say, I'm the problem. It's

24:48

me. And another

24:51

Taylor Swift lyric, this time

24:53

weaponized against her biggest foe. By the

24:56

end of the hearing, it's clear that

24:58

Swift is the one thing Democrats and

25:00

Republicans can agree on. For

25:05

Swift, the hearing is a win. Her

25:07

cause has been championed by lawmakers on

25:09

both sides of the aisle. As

25:12

for Ticketmaster, the subcommittee kicks the

25:14

question of whether or not the company is

25:16

a monopoly to the DOJ, which

25:19

means big problems for Michael

25:21

Rapinoe and Joe Berchtold. And

25:24

now Taylor Swift, Inc.,

25:27

is turning its attention to another industry, Hollywood.

25:31

May 2023, the Lincoln

25:34

Financial Field in

25:36

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Swift is

25:38

backstage in her green room after soundcheck going

25:40

through some last minute prep for tonight's show.

25:45

It's her first of three nights in the city, but her dad wants to

25:47

talk to her about something

25:51

else. Taylor, I've been thinking about the movie.

26:00

Swiss. Looks up. So.

26:02

Of I. Swift. Is working

26:04

on a concert movie for the Air as tour. Swift.

26:07

And her team of hired a director

26:09

and they're paying for the production costs

26:11

of the movie themselves. It's a way

26:13

to capitalize on the popularity of the

26:15

tour as well as a piece fans

26:17

who weren't able to score tickets themselves.

26:20

Recently. Swift and her team have been

26:23

meeting with Hollywood studios about releasing the

26:25

movie in theaters. Justin. Bieber

26:27

concert movie believe made more than

26:29

thirty million dollars at the box

26:31

office, so Swift's could expect herself

26:33

to do at least that. This.

26:36

Whole Ticketmaster thing has made me reconsider. Some

26:38

things we've tried so hard to make sure

26:40

that were in control of the San experience.

26:43

But. Having Ticketmaster as the middleman messed up

26:45

the sworn so many ways. Scott.

26:48

Nods. Even though the tours

26:50

bingo and fantastically so far. Swift.

26:52

Is still bothered by how so many of

26:55

her fans were unable to get tickets. It.

26:57

Just bugs me that once again, these middleman companies

26:59

are making so much money off me and it's

27:01

not been a city me or my fans at

27:03

all. Yeah, I've been pretty

27:06

disappointed by or discussions with the studios.

27:09

I think I have an idea. Swift's

27:11

it back in a chair. Okay,

27:13

what is it? I. Mean do

27:16

we need them in order to release the

27:18

movie? Well. Aren't they the distributors?

27:20

Don't We need them to get them of the

27:22

into theaters. But why you're not helping

27:24

us make it? They're not contributing to

27:26

it. Why? Should they get a piece of

27:29

pie? Swiss. Brow

27:31

furrows, What? Are you

27:33

suggesting? Why? Don't we go around

27:35

the studios in release the film directly into theaters

27:37

with a M C. Swift.

27:40

Considers. It's an

27:42

interesting idea. Certainly not the

27:44

way things are usually done. In fact,

27:46

it hasn't ever been done by as

27:48

big an artist as Swift. And

27:51

it could backfire. What? About

27:53

the studios. Aren't you worried about angry enough?

27:56

Swift. Shrugs. We. paid for

27:58

the movie ourselves we're making the movie

28:00

ourselves. We don't need them. They

28:03

need us. The

28:05

last documentary Swift participated in, Miss

28:07

Americana, was released on Netflix. It

28:10

was produced by a private production company and

28:13

Swift wasn't officially a producer on it. But

28:16

the film did wonders for her image. Swift

28:18

could always work directly through streaming

28:21

services like Netflix again. You're

28:24

right. Okay. Why don't

28:26

you look into it? All

28:28

right. Let me make some calls. Swift's

28:31

dad calls a friend who calls the

28:33

CEO of AMC. That

28:35

friend tells the CEO that Scott Swift

28:38

has a crazy idea and wants to

28:40

talk. The pair begins

28:42

discussions to negotiate a deal that would

28:44

distribute the era's film directly into AMC

28:47

theaters, bypassing the studios.

28:50

For AMC, it's a move that makes

28:52

total sense. The company has

28:54

been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and

28:56

Swift's movie is sure to be a hit.

28:59

AMC doesn't feel much loyalty to the

29:02

studios. AMC believes they effectively

29:04

hung the company out to dry

29:06

during the pandemic by releasing their movies

29:08

directly onto streaming services and narrowing

29:10

the time between when a movie hits

29:13

theaters and goes on demand, all

29:15

of which hurt multiplex sales. Yet

29:19

another way Swift is shaking up business

29:22

and shaking off the

29:24

competition. June

29:31

22nd, 2023, Glamdol

29:33

Donuts in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

29:37

Inside a cozy kitsch donut shop, Handimonium

29:40

Rains. A mass

29:42

of women wearing Taylor Swift t-shirts,

29:44

their arms decorated with beaded Taylor

29:47

Swift bracelet are all queuing

29:49

up to buy donuts. The

29:51

owner rushes back and forth from the

29:53

kitchen to counter varying heaps of sugar

29:55

retreats. Her cashier turns to

29:58

her, what's going on? Why are we so busy? today.

30:00

It's a Taylor Swift donut. We've posted them on Instagram

30:03

and now the Swifties can't get enough. The

30:05

cashier looks at the special donuts. They're

30:07

nearly all pink. Some are

30:09

covered in edible glitter, others emblazoned with

30:12

the names of Taylor Swift albums, others

30:14

still with pictures of Swift's face on

30:16

them. Just then a customer

30:18

calls out. I'll have a box of

30:20

the Taylor Swift donuts. That'll

30:22

be $63 please. Thank you so much.

30:24

Here you go.

30:28

The owner reappears and surveys the

30:30

nearly empty display case. Oh my

30:32

god, they're nearly sold out again. I

30:34

keep getting calls and we're being swamped with online

30:36

orders. Okay, we're going to be here all night

30:39

making donuts. Swift

30:41

isn't even performing in Minneapolis until

30:43

tomorrow night, but the excitement

30:46

has already reached a fever pitch. Thanks

30:49

to Swift's visit, the city has

30:51

broken all-time records for the number

30:53

of hotel rooms occupied. The

30:55

mayor even posts a picture with a dozen

30:57

Taylor Swift donuts with a caption, welcome

31:00

to Swift-eapolis Taylor Swift. And

31:03

it's not just Minneapolis. Swift is

31:05

boosting local economies nationwide with the

31:07

eras tour. Cities are getting a

31:10

boost after the pandemic's downturn thanks to the

31:12

arrival of Swift fans who've come to town

31:14

to see her shows. Staying

31:16

at hotels, going to restaurants, making a

31:18

whole vacation out of the concert. One

31:21

city estimated Swift brought 48 million

31:24

dollars to town. Part

31:26

of the benefit for cities is that Swift

31:28

stays for multiple days, often playing two to

31:31

three nights in a row in one place.

31:33

The eras tour takes place at football stadiums that

31:36

hold more than 70,000 people.

31:40

Even though Swift's rollout had a

31:42

major setback with Ticketmaster, the

31:45

actual tour is going amazingly well.

31:48

Meanwhile, Ticketmaster is not having nearly

31:50

as much fun this summer. Rumors

31:53

are swirling that the DOJ is preparing to

31:55

file a lawsuit against them as soon as

31:57

the fall. The

32:00

worst economic impact give swift even

32:02

more potential leverage show, and if

32:04

she's a powerful business in her

32:06

own. Now

32:09

Ticketmaster must fight to

32:11

save it's reputation or

32:13

find it's relegated to

32:15

the music industry's blank

32:17

space. Say.

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Twenty Twenty Three. Ticketmaster.

34:18

Headquarters in West Hollywood, California.

34:22

Libation. Ceo Michael Repeat knows

34:24

gathered Berchtold in their head of

34:26

legal for a much needed brainstorm.

34:29

Berchtold look stressed. The senate hearing

34:31

was tough and the success of

34:33

Swiss Tour hasn't made his life

34:35

easier. For. Powers made

34:37

Ticketmaster look weak. And

34:40

that's not good considering what's

34:42

coming. Okay, Guys,

34:44

we talk about this D O J

34:46

Investigation. Berchtold shifts in

34:48

his seat. The. D of Jay's

34:51

currently investigating Live Nation, Ticket Masters parent

34:53

company and Taylor Swift in her fans

34:55

have added fuel to the fire. Well,

34:57

we don't know a whole lot so

34:59

far, but what we do know they're

35:01

looking into our agreements with venues and

35:04

artists or Pino tenses his jaw. As

35:06

bad news. Well. We know

35:08

our competitors going to say we pay

35:11

artists more than other promoters can afford

35:13

the going? It's us of being able

35:15

to do that by routing shows through

35:17

our own venues. Use Ticketmaster. Are

35:19

also going to say this means a customers pay

35:21

more for tickets. Were. The ticket prices.

35:24

I think we come out and argue that it

35:26

would be weird to suggest people should be paying

35:28

artists last. For. Pino not. So.

35:31

How do we handle Taylor? The

35:33

first leg of the air as tours

35:35

been a runaway success. She's broken all

35:37

sorts of records, including the highest grossing

35:39

to or for a female artists and

35:41

highest grossing tour for a solo artist.

35:44

In fact, The. Air as tours

35:46

so successful. It's on track

35:49

to becoming the highest grossing tour. of

35:52

all time you gotta admit it's

35:54

impressive she's probably going to generate

35:56

something like two billion dollars in

35:58

north american take it sailed alone."

36:01

Berto nods. He gave her catalog

36:03

of boosts too. I read in

36:05

Billboard her on-demand stream jumped 50%

36:07

first week of the tour and

36:09

kept on rising. Bet

36:12

Shamrock is happy. He's

36:14

referring to Shamrock Capital, the

36:16

people who bought Swift's masters to her

36:19

first six albums from Scooter Braun. Her

36:21

re-recordings have been such huge hits.

36:24

She's rolling in royalties. Swift

36:27

earned 92 million

36:29

dollars in 2022 alone. Well

36:32

unfortunately for us the better Taylor looks

36:34

the worse we do. We

36:37

need to seriously prepare for the very likely

36:39

possibility that the DOJ might file a lawsuit

36:41

against us. If

36:43

that happened, the DOJ could

36:46

demand that Live Nation undo its

36:48

merger with Ticketmaster, effectively

36:50

breaking down the giant company

36:52

into two smaller ones. That

36:55

would destroy our business. It's

36:58

not the first time Live Nation is tussled with

37:00

the government. In 2019,

37:03

the DOJ investigated allegations

37:05

of Ticketmaster's anti-competitive practices.

37:08

They reached an agreement with the government

37:10

after it ruled that Live Nation could

37:12

not force venues to use Ticketmaster for

37:14

those shows. It also

37:16

prevented Live Nation from retaliating against

37:19

venues that chose to use competitors.

37:22

Rapinoe hopes a similar truce can

37:24

be brokered now. Look,

37:27

let's do what we need to do. Agree to

37:29

pay a fine, whatever they want, but

37:31

I do not want them undoing

37:33

our Live Nation and Ticketmaster deal.

37:35

That vertical integration is pivotal to

37:37

us. Burke told nods.

37:40

He has his marching orders. Figure

37:43

out a way to keep the government happy

37:46

or face the destruction of Live Nation's

37:48

business. October

37:56

22nd, 2023. Taylor Swift is at Arrow Head

38:00

Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri. But

38:03

for once, she's not on stage. She's

38:06

not in the bleachers either. Today,

38:09

she's standing in the locker room, wearing

38:11

a red Kansas City Chiefs t-shirt,

38:14

holding hands with her boyfriend, Kansas

38:16

City tight end Travis Kelce. You

38:19

did so great, Dave. Thanks, hon.

38:23

Kelce's team just beat the Los Angeles Chargers 31-17.

38:25

Swift smiles up at him.

38:29

Kelce is 6'5", so he's

38:31

got height on her, even if his

38:33

fame can't compare. For

38:36

Swift, the last few months have been a

38:38

bit of a love story. In

38:41

July, Swift was performing at this very same

38:43

stadium when Kelce came to see her play.

38:46

He made a friendship bracelet with his phone number

38:48

on it and wanted to give it to Swift,

38:50

but she wouldn't meet him after the show. So

38:53

instead, he talked about it on

38:55

an episode of his podcast, and

38:58

somehow, he got on Swift's

39:00

radar. I'm so glad this

39:02

happened. Remember when you were like, I've seen you

39:04

rock the stage in Arrowhead? You might have to

39:06

come see me rock the stage in Arrowhead? Kelce

39:09

laughs. Yeah, you've seen me rock

39:11

the stage in Arrowhead quite a few times now. In

39:15

fact, Swift hasn't missed a game at the stadium

39:17

since they got together, and it's

39:19

given the NFL a huge boost. Her

39:21

first appearance in a Kelce game reportedly led to

39:23

a 400% spike in

39:26

sales of Kelce's jersey. The

39:29

NFL has been lapping it up,

39:31

running Swift-focused coverage and making Swift

39:33

puns on social media. And

39:36

NFL TV ratings have improved since

39:38

Swift's relationship with Kelce, too. Tons

39:41

of Swifties have begun tuning into football.

39:48

This is just the latest industry

39:50

Swift's reinvigorated. Her era's tour

39:52

movie opened in October after her team brokered

39:55

a deal to send it directly to AMC

39:57

Theaters. Within 24 hours, the movie

39:59

was released. The broke ticket sales

40:01

records, ultimately grossing more than

40:04

two hundred sixty million dollars

40:06

worldwide, making it both the

40:08

highest grossing documentary and concert

40:10

film in box office history,

40:14

In the locker room, a woman gestures swiss.

40:19

Is the girlfriend of one of

40:21

Chelsea's teammates with not enthusiastic yeah

40:23

sex. She poses next to Dlc

40:26

while the woman and her player

40:28

boyfriend smile left. As

40:31

the shudder closes swift turns to Kelsey,

40:33

gives him a kiss and a cheat.

40:37

Searched. The

40:40

picture gets posted the Instagram and

40:43

soon the whole world sees it

40:45

is the first confirmed kiss between

40:47

the two. Sure, it's only a

40:49

kiss on the T, but it

40:52

makes major news with outlets across

40:54

the country riding it up with

40:56

breathless excitement. Swiss

41:02

riding an all time popularity

41:05

hi. A few days

41:07

after the locker room picked, Bloomberg declares

41:09

that she is a billionaire. This

41:13

girl from Pennsylvania who always

41:15

dreamed of being a singer

41:17

songwriter who trotted up and

41:19

down Music row. She's now

41:21

a billionaire. In

41:24

a few months she'll be named Time's

41:26

person of the year. Things

41:29

can't get better. The

41:31

same cannot be said for Live

41:33

Nation is still under investigation by

41:36

the D O J. A lawsuit

41:38

has yet to be filed, but

41:40

the company's future remains uncertain. Ticketmaster

41:43

cross the Swiss cheese and

41:45

now they're likely have to

41:47

pay. Because

41:50

it's Swiss world. And

41:53

we're just living in. From

42:13

wondering: This is the fourth episode

42:15

of Taylor Swift versus the World

42:18

has. Known. About

42:20

recreations, human hearing. In most cases

42:22

we can't know exactly what the

42:24

sad to see your dramatizations, but

42:26

they're based on historical research. For

42:28

more, on to Switch, check out

42:30

the Miss American, a documentary. We

42:32

also recommend reading Taylor Swift the

42:34

Whole Story by Jazz New T.

42:36

Burden I'm your Host David Brown

42:38

Madly Rubbermaid wrote this story, Voice

42:40

acting by Caroline Gently and Theory.

42:42

Cabin on Tour in Low is

42:44

our senior editor in producer. Edited

42:46

and produced by Emily Frost. Sound

42:48

design by Kyle Random. Fact

42:50

checking by Gabrielle Drooling! Our

42:52

senior producers Dave Schilling are

42:55

executive producers or Ginny, Lower

42:57

Beckman and Marshall Lose were

42:59

wondering? A

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