Taylor Swift fans suing Ticketmaster for its “ticket presale disaster” for the Grammy award winning singer’s sensational “Eras Tour” suffered a legal setback this week when a federal judge dismissed their claims of fraud, breach of contract, antitrust violations, and others. 

The 355 aggrieved Swifties took Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, to court in 2022 for allegedly violating a slew of laws while managing the ticket presale for Ms. Swift’s uber-popular world tour. The plaintiffs claim they were unable to secure tickets after an unprecedented inflow of users, ticker scalpers, and bots crashed Ticketmaster’s website and prompted the company to cancel its planned public ticket sale. 

“Why are we paying these fees? Why are the ticket prices being changed as we’re purchasing them?” one of the plaintiffs, Joe Akmakjian, asked in court. “Why are tickets being sold out in 10 minutes, to go on a resale market that Ticketmaster owns as well?”

The Swifties accuse Live Nation of committing several infractions, including breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation and antitrust violations that include price-fixing and illegal collusion. 

However, U.S. District Judge George Wu ruled on Thursday that their suit did not offer adequate evidence to back up their allegations. The plaintiffs, he determined, had “failed to plead any of their antitrust theories with the requisite particularity or clarity” and also left the court “without a clear impression of how plaintiffs were presented with the alleged contract” that they claim Ticketmaster breached. 

Judge Wu gave them another opportunity to amend their lawsuit — even though it has already seen four previous iterations, according to Courthouse News. The Swifties will have to submit the beefed complaint before a July 14 deadline. “This is your last chance,” Judge Wu told the plaintiff’s legal team. 

The Swifties’ legal team is shaking off the setback. Attorney Jennifer Kinder said on Thursday that they “look forward to our next hearing in front of Judge Wu” to continue their fight against what she called a “Goliath.” One of the lead plaintiffs, Julie Barfuss, shared a similar sentiment. “I am as dedicated to it now as I’ve ever been, because I really feel strongly that live entertainment should be for everyone and not just the privileged few,” she said. 

The attorneys also took aim at Ticketmaster, chiding them for slowing down the lawsuit. “Despite Ticketmaster’s constant efforts to delay, to deny, to keep consumers from access to the civil justice system, we are still here,” Ms. Kinder said during a Thursday press conference. “We’re still standing. We’re not going away. Swifties are more united than they’ve ever been.”

Public backlash over the Eras Tour ticket fiasco — which saw thousands of fans lose out on tickets despite, in many cases, waiting for hours in an online queue — was swift and searing. Amid the growing controversy, the pop star herself came out against the ticket company, lamenting that Ticketmaster had assured her “multiple times” that they would be able to handle the record demand. 

“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse,” she wrote in her online statement. 

Ticketmaster was eventually called to testify before the Senate in 2023, during which the company was grilled over its market dominance. Live Nation’s Chief Financial Officer Joe Berchtold, while speaking before the Senate, apologized for the debacle and acknowledged that “We need to do better and will do better,” he said. 

Ticketmaster denies any legal wrongdoing and instead blames the mangled sale on the “historically unprecedented demand” for Ms. Swift’s tour.