“First, we want to apologize to Taylor and all her fans- especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets,” Ticketmaster explained.
As predicted, the Swifties did it once again. In the first leg of the sale, Taylor Swift fans broke Ticketmaster, forcing the company to cancel all later planned sales.
Swift previously announced ticket sales to “The Eras Tour” were scheduled to begin on November 15. Commencing with a pre-sale, followed by a Capital One cardholder sale, and then a general sale, all tickets were being sold strictly through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan. This was to help keep out as many “bots” as possible.
Ticket sales only lasted halfway through the pre-sale, forcing the cancellation of both the Capital One cardholder sale and the general sale.
Though Ticketmaster is the leading seller for some of the biggest artists and venues, it’s safe to say the site really botched this one.
Ticketmaster was immediately under fire, and Twitter flooded with angry fans. Some even took to using humor as a coping mechanism. “First, we want to apologize to Taylor and all her fans- especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets,” Ticketmaster explained. “Overall, we estimate about 15% of interactions across the site experienced issues, and that’s 15% too many.”
As part of the 15%, I can verify that being a verified fan is not all it was cracked up to be.
I was in the waiting room as early as possible and entered the queue right on time. Unfortunately, those who leave the queue to enter the world of purchasing tickets is completely random. So, I had to wait for my turn for 3 hours and 27 minutes. Yes, I counted.
By the time I was finally able to purchase my tickets, there was a limited amount available. I chose seat after seat in the nosebleeds, on the floor, behind the stage, etcetera. Each and every time I attempted to add them to my cart, “Sorry, Something Went Wrong” popped up on my screen. In no time, all seats were taken, and the concert was sold out.
To avoid growing upset, I thought, “how I could do better next time, in the Capital One cardholder sale?” Unfortunately, there was no answer. The error was not my doing– rather, Ticketmaster was unprepared for the web traffic they ultimately received.
Later, Ticketmaster made it known the Capital One sale was cancelled, and then Thursday, November 17, the general sale was cancelled as well. No one else was able to purchase tickets. This is a real shame, considering many of the tickets sold are now being resold on StubHub for double a NYC studio rent payment (and that’s just the seats behind the stage).
The ticketing site’s parent company, Live Nation, is being investigated by the Department of Justice for their selling methods and monopoly-like practices. The investigation did begin before the mishandling of Taylor Swift tickets, according to the New York Times— however, it’s being amped up due to fan outrage.
According to Ticketmaster, disruptions in sales were due to an “unmanageable volume” entering the website at a time. Ticketmaster themselves slowed down the queue to give people more time to shop and a better chance to go through with the purchase.
Of course, this also meant longer wait times for fans on standby.
No further details were given in the company’s statement. They were quick to let us know that 2 million tickets were sold, and that Taylor Swift’s record-breaking album once again broke more records. After becoming the first artist to have all top 10 singles on the Billboard charts, this pre-sale’s registration also became the largest registration in history. It sold more tickets than ever before for an artist in a single day. Even though many fans are frustrated, die-hards are still proud of Taylor for her ongoing domination of the music industry.
Swift acknowledged the controversy in an Instagram Story following the general sale cancellation.
“And to those who didn’t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs. Thank you for wanting to be there.”
Well, Taylor, our only hope is you make good on that statement, because there are still millions of people dying to see you live.
