An Absurd Number Of Fans Tried To Get Taylor’s Presale Tickets
Swifties aren't happy with Ticketmaster right now.
Well, presale opportunities for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour turned out to be the only official ticketing opportunities. For Swift’s upcoming concert series that kicks off in March 2023, many Swifties registered for presale tickets through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan Program. However, not all fans had a smooth checkout. The ticket vendor’s site reportedly crashed and left potential ticket-buyers to virtually wait in long lines.
Due to “insufficient” remaining tickets following Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan and Capital One presales, Ticketmaster canceled the general tickets sale for The Eras Tour on Nov. 17. Prior to this anounncement, LiveNation’s chairman Greg Maffei told CNBC that 14 million people tried to score presale tickets on Nov. 15. However, only 1.5 “verified” slots were open for presale.
“Despite all the challenges and the breakdowns, we did sell over 2 million tickets that day,” Maffei told CNBC. “We could've filled 900 stadiums.”
Maffie also told CNBC that the Live Nations team felt “sympathetic” for fans who couldn’t purchase tickets. “[The] reality is it’s a function of the massive demand that Taylor Swift has,” he said.
In the aftermath of the presale hiccups, Ticketmaster has received criticism from fans and public officials. Even Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for Ticketmaster’s merger with LiveNation to be “broken up.”
On Nov. 17, Ticketmaster released a statement on the presale debacle. They noted the 2 million tickets sold on Nov. 15 was the highest number of sales for a single artist in one day.
“We strive to make ticket buying as easy as possible for fans, but that hasn’t been the case for many people trying to buy tickets for The Eras Tour,” they wrote. Ticketmaster also justified the Verified Fan program by saying they use it “to help manage high demand shows” and “identify real humans” to keep bots from overcrowding ticket sales.
Swift has not publicly addressed the presale fiasco or Ticketmaster’s general ticket sale cancellation.
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