In 1994, Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster. Now, after watching the fallout from Ticketmaster’s handling of Taylor Swift’s 2023 tour, it has become clear. Pearl Jam wasn’t just right about Ticketmaster. Everyone else was wrong.

Ticketmaster used competitive practices to build and protect its monopoly. It is a monopoly. And it uses its power to make us miserable. It fits Cory Doctorow’s theory of enshittification. This is why Ticketmaster needs to go.

Pearl Jam stood up alone in a lawsuit to keep a growing monopoly from abusing their power. Had even a small group of others chosen to join them, they may have totally changed the system then.

Of course, it isn’t too late for anti-trust suits and boycotts. But now, like then, requires more than just one artist to stand against a corporation that holds all of the power.