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A Taylor Swift fan protests Ticketmaster.
Taylor Swift fans are the latest to take aim at Ticketmaster. (Photo: Getty / Treatment: Tina Tiller)

BusinessMarch 31, 2023

Lawsuits, NFTs and super-mad Swifties: Ticketmaster’s problems, explained

A Taylor Swift fan protests Ticketmaster.
Taylor Swift fans are the latest to take aim at Ticketmaster. (Photo: Getty / Treatment: Tina Tiller)

Everything you need to know about the ticketing agency’s ongoing debacles.

So Ticketmaster’s back in the news. Why is the company that should be spitting out concert tickets calmly and quietly sparking so many headlines?

Where do you want to start? The lawsuits, the NFTs or the super-mad Swifties?

It’s too early to be dealing with NFTs. Let’s go for the lawsuits and the Swifties.  

Good choice. So Ticketmaster, the company you give a lot of money to so you can attend shows like Billie Eilish and Dua Lipa, is being sued by Taylor Swift fans who weren’t able to get their hands on tickets to the pop star’s Eras tour. According to the Los Angeles Times, 300 fans are accusing Live Nation Entertainment, Ticketmaster’s parent company, of “fraud, price-fixing, antitrust-law violations and misleading buyers”. That’s to do with the outrageous wait times, website crashes, pre-registration dramas and then the sky-high prices when tickets went on sale late last year. Millions missed out, Swift herself had to apologise (“…it really pisses me off”) and scalpers had a bonanza, re-listing tickets for a reported US$21,000.

Ticketmaster tickets on a phone.
Ticketmaster is under fire for the way it sold Taylor Swift tickets (Photo: Getty Images)

When is this lawsuit taking place?

Right now! A hearing is underway this week in Los Angeles. Swifties travelled from all over the country and gathered outside the courthouse to protest Ticketmaster. “The system is broken, it’s not working for fans,” plaintiff Julie Barfuss told Rolling Stone magazine. “And fans are the reason for the live experience. They need to do better.” 

This sounds like further proof you shouldn’t piss off Swifties.

Absolutely. Just ask Diplo.

Are other musicians mad?

Yes! Many have been speaking out about the ticketing giant. The Cure’s Robert Smith slammed Ticketmaster and said he was “sickened” about “face value” tickets to his shows being sold at extraordinary prices. Analogue evangelist Neil Young went one further, saying he was getting blamed for Ticketmaster fees and scalpers. He declared “the old days are gone …   concert tours are no longer fun”. Bruce Springsteen, who was criticised for allowing Ticketmaster to sell tickets to his shows for up to $5000, has also admitted: “Ticket buying has gotten very confusing.”

How has it gotten like this?

For one, Live Nation Entertainment holds a monopoly over the industry. It purchased Ticketmaster in 2010, so now controls the tickets, many venues and the artists as well, who are locked into megatours exclusive to Live Nation. Ticketmaster sells 70% of all tickets in America. Making matters worse is Ticketmaster Resale, a venture some say allows scalping to flourish. New ticket selling initiatives haven’t helped its image. Things like “dynamic pricing”, “in-demand tickets” and a “verified fan” system seem to be getting in the way of what Ticketmaster should be doing: getting concert tickets into the hands of fans at a reasonable price.

Have these initiatives reached New Zealand?

Unfortunately, they have. Lizzo recently announced an Auckland show with exclusive offers for American Express cardholders and “in demand” tickets that cost $339.80. Pink’s Dunedin show in 2024 is offering gold and silver “hot seats”, golden circle tickets and a diamond experience, some of which cost more than $500. Tickets to pop-punk band Blink-182 range between $134.90 to $565.50. A standing ticket on the floor is $375, which is a hell of a lot more than the $50 I paid to see them perform with Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Chemical Brothers, Bassment Jaxx and Nine Inch Nails at the Big Day out in 2000.

So what’s going to happen when Taylor Swift or Beyoncé announce tours here?

Both those shows are heavily rumoured to be coming here, and the result is likely to be much the same. Get your wallets out, sign up for pre-sales, get in those queues and mash your mouse button as fast as you can. Prepare for chaos, and maybe get ready to protest.

What does Ticketmaster say about all this?

They blame the bots. “We were … hit with three times the amount of bot traffic than we had ever experienced,” Live Nation CEO Joe Berchtold has said of the Taylor Swift ticket dilemma. “While the bots failed to penetrate our systems or acquire any tickets, the attack required us to slow down and even pause our sales. This is what led to a terrible consumer experience that we deeply regret.” That’s not good enough for Senator Amy Klobuchar, who keeps a watchful eye on consumer affairs issues. “In truth, there is no other choice. It is a monopoly,” she is reported as saying. “The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve.”

Sigh. Didn’t Pearl Jam try and tackle this in the 90s?

They did. It didn’t work. Even Eddie Vedder and co use Ticketmaster these days. If major artists want to tour and perform in Live Nation venues, there’s really only one option.

Eddie Vedder jumps as Pearl Jam live in Boston.
Pearl Jam tried to take on Ticketmaster in the 90s. (Photo: Getty)

OK, I’m ready al I’ll ever be: what’s happening with the NFTs?

You should probably sit down for this one. Ticketmaster is trialling a new “token-gating” pre-sale scheme with owners of artist-approved NFTs getting early access to tickets. It’s just kicked off with the metal band Avenged Sevenfold, ahead of what is reported to be a full rollout. “We have integrated Death Bats Club into Ticketmaster,” said singer Matt Sanders.

I need to own NFTs to buy concert tickets now?

Sorry, but for some acts, in some cases, it looks like if you want to get early access to tickets, yes, this could be a thing.

What else can I do to get myself away from this mess?

You can support artists who don’t rely on Ticketmaster’s monopoly. They’re probably not as big a deal as your Swifts and Beyonce’s, but they’re more in need of your support. Ticket outlets like Moshtix and Eventbrite aren’t owned by a global monopoly, and there are still plenty of independent venues around Aotearoa that host great shows all the time. You can have just as much fun in a crowd of 500 as you can in one of 40,000, promise.

The Tuning Fork, here I come!

No. Stop. Wait! That one’s owned by Live Nation.

I can’t win.

No, you really can’t.

Keep going!
Image: Archi Banal
Image: Archi Banal

BusinessMarch 30, 2023

Auckland’s Skyworld is on the market – so what should the new owner do with it?

Image: Archi Banal
Image: Archi Banal

Renovate and rebuild, or knock it down and start again? Here’s what some experts think.

It is, probably, one of Trade Me’s most expensive listings. Skyworld, the nine-storey entertainment mecca covering 3,486 square metres in the heart of Auckland’s CBD is, for the first time since 2011, up for sale. What will it cost? It’s hard to say when it’s so gloomy, rundown and depressing, but you’d have to guess it’s somewhere between that 2011 sale price of $34 million and the Auckland Council CV of $54 million.

Whoever buys it will need to spend much more on top of that. The complex’s original architect Ashley Allen predicts $15-20 million will be needed to cover the costs to redesign, refurbish, rebuild and return Skyworld to its former glory, when it was an all-in-one destination for food, shopping and entertainment. Or, as it was promoted when it opened in 1999: “An adventure every visit”.

The front entrance and logo of Skyworld.
Skyworld’s original logo remains visible at the complex’s front entrance. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

Should it be knocked down and turned into something new? Or revamped with nods to its chequered past? We decided to ask the experts, invested parties and Auckland CBD busybodies for their opinions on how to Make Skyworld Great Again. Here’s what they said…

Henry Oliver, Metro editor

I am not usually a nostalgic or conservative person, but my hope of all hopes is that Skyworld could become a 2020s update of its 2000s glory — a real entertainment centre with a bustling cinema, a thriving food court, browsable retail, a spacies arcade, a few sit-down restaurants and a bar or two (one which could double as a medium-sized live music venue). It’d need to be anchored by a dominant retailer in the Borders space — something unique that would attract people (let’s say Uniqlo) — and a functioning, relevant cinema.

While we are at an all-time low for people wanting to “go into town” and the CBD office environment never quite recovering from Covid, having a City Rail Link station just around the corner (planned to be open by 2025) could radically change the prospects of the area. Let’s not forget that the central city is increasingly less a business centre than a dense residential suburb.

Skyworld could be the entertainment heart of all that. It just needs vision, tenants, and money. Lots and lots of money.

Ashley Allen, Skyworld’s original architect

Skyworld
A rooftop venue and a cigar shaped structure, as well as a large lift, are part of Ashley Allen’s Skyworld renovation plans. (Photos: Supplied)

Naturally we think we are the right architects for the redevelopment. We’re so passionate about our building. It’s like our baby. This particular site has got into my bones and we want to see something world class back on that site.

Maybe I’m just a bit too big-headed, but I can’t see how another architect can understand some of the potential [problems] that can happen in the building. I know some of the things you can’t do easily because of surfaces and problems with structures and other stuff. I’m thinking, ‘I know what can be done, I know things that can be better from the original design, and it’s so easy for me to do that, and so difficult for some other architect to do it.’

The disused former site of Burger King at Skyworld.
Burger King used to be a late night hangout at Skyworld. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

We’re looking to add a whole new roof to the building, have bars, mini-conference facilities, a stage, an external life with a steampunk feel. [An outdoor elevator] would be like a Welsh mining cage with wheels on top. It can take up to 50 people [to the roof] at a time. Everyone can see you so it becomes part of the street theatre. That will take people to the upper level, bars, restaurants. It looks out to the Aotea Centre. It has beautiful views. It has quite nice potential up there. (Interview courtesy of the Substack newsletter Boiler Room.)

‘Hutt Valley, Kāpiti, down to the south coast. Our Wellington coverage is powered by members.’
Joel MacManus
— Wellington editor

Wayne Brown, Auckland Mayor

* Did not respond.

Sam Brooks, Spinoff journalist

I have one idea for Skyworld: Keep Metrolanes as it is. Turn it into a heritage site. Do whatever it takes to keep the cheapest dive bar in the CBD, with the most bizarrely gorgeous view, exactly as it is. I guarantee whoever buys it will end up sitting on a goldmine once that City Rail Link opens and various business people, university students and playwrights-slash-journalists want their 5.01pm fix before going on to whatever their evening plans are.

A bleak view out Skyworld's window.
Skyworld’s food court has long been closed. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

The best thing anyone can do to Skyworld is revive what it used to be: A third space. Since Skyworld’s fall from ubiquity, a bunch of lovely third spaces have popped up around the CBD – Fed Street, Freyberg Square, Britomart – but having spaces where you can grab a bite, sneak a beer, have a coffee after work, before a film or in between meetings is one of the best assets a city has. Skyworld could be the best of those, by far, if it’s invested in.

(Read Sam’s feature, ‘An adventure every visit: From Skyworld’s glitzy launch to its bleak present,’ here.)

Chlöe Swarbrick, MP for Central Auckland

Skyworld was born just five years after me. I remember watching my first ever iMax 3D movie, Jurassic Park III, during school holidays. I remember the pictures and décor on the walls of Planet Hollywood, but I’m not sure if I actually ever ate there. I remember how it felt to ride those rocket-ship elevators and load up a plate with kai from the buffet in the food court.

I remember spending hours in Borders, trawling what felt like a massive expanse of kids books during endless weekends before heading upstairs to the Queen Street level to traverse what felt like infinite magazines that talked about technology and fashion and art and culture. It had that imprint on a lot of Aucklanders.

A bleak view of the St James Theatre.
Auckland’s St James Theatre, as viewed from Skyworld. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

The place was magic. It still has that magic potential. I strongly agree with Sam Brooks that Metrolanes is one of the best kept secret bars in Tāmaki Makaurau. I wish it didn’t feel like a secret, though. I wish it was thriving – and that’s why we need investment in the ecosystem of Skyworld. I’ve made some flippant comments in the past about how it could be Public Works Act-ed, because it’s sitting neglected and run-down between what’s set to become one of our busiest CRL stations and the so-called arts precinct. We’ve also toyed with the idea of it being used as the new primary school Ministry of Education projections predict we’ll need within the next 10 or so years.

It could be a mid-town theme park. A giant greenhouse for urban agriculture. A massive, contained and safe rave venue. It could be an all-night bookstore, reminiscent of the romance of the Borders days. It could host a hub of community services, like our Citizens Advice Bureaus, Community Law, Rainbow Youth, Lifewise and more. Whatever it is, it needs to be so much more than a mall.

A bakery stuck in time inside Skyworld.
Long closed, Skyworld’s Bake My Day appears stuck in time. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

Steve Bielby, St James owner

The midtown area needs a precinct plan and central government should step up and provide some financing by way of a 10-year loan to Auckland Council to acquire it. The City Rail Link is an opportunity that doesn’t come along every day and we have the chance to strategically plan this whole precinct (acknowledging that the St James also has a role here and is currently in a pretty sad state).

Council should buy it, increase the density massively, put a hotel consent on the site with a ground floor of hospitality offerings and a pedestrian plaza linking CRL to Queen St and either develop it for long-term income or sell it with the consent and an obligation to build in place. I’d even help develop the business case for them pro bono. This city needs an urban design and development champion to ensure cohesion and common goals are achieved.

Brad Jacobs, The Coffee Club director and ex-Skyworld tenant

I still believe there is a really great opportunity to re-create what used to be there but in a new modern format. It’s obviously very run down now and will need a huge amount of work to bring it up to where it needs to be, but I do genuinely believe an all-in-one entertainment and casual dining precinct in the heart of the CBD definitely has a place and would thrive again.

James Kwak, Skyworld owner

* Did not respond.

Skyworld's threadbare carpet.
Skyworld’s carpet desperately needs replacing. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

Chris Hart, Real Groovy owner

It’s a real shame Skyworld has been allowed to decay especially now that this part of town is booming. With the Wellesley entrance of the Aotea station soon able to disgorge thousands of people onto its doorstep, you’d think the potential was there for the right owner.

If a refurbishment was done, it could possibly be ready by late 2025, in time for the station opening. Anything beyond a refurbishment back to original purpose is likely to be cost prohibitive, unless it included apartments, and it would have to have some sort of commitment from a major tenant to justify the risk.

Probably a revamp would be the best thing for Auckland. The layout is really difficult and has some serious issues, but the original theme isn’t really going to date. It was unique enough to transcend fashion. Steampunk futurism!

skyworld
One architect’s vision shows wraparound digital display boards. (Image: RCG)

Viv Beck, Heart of the City chief executive

This site is brimming with major opportunity and perfectly placed to help realise a fantastic arts quarter and entertainment destination right on the doorstep on the City Rail Link. We’d love this site to become a real drawcard for family-friendly experiences – dialling up some of the best bits which are still operating and taking it to a new level of entertainment experience.

Graffiti at Skyworld's front entrance.
Graffiti greets visitors to Auckland’s Skyworld complex. (Photo: Chris Schulz)

We’re dreaming of Lego exhibits, spaces that host immersive experiences like the Monopoly Dreams theme park in Melbourne, the latest in gaming technology, and a 24/7 food offering that appeals to a broad audience. Along with the need to secure funding to get the St James Theatre back up and running, redeveloping this site in the right way will help to regenerate a key part of a place that has nearly 40,000 residents and is well on the way to a being a 24/7 international city.

But wait there's more!