Earlier Thursday, Ticketmaster tried to break down what caused the chaotic uproar when presale tickets for Swift’s The Eras tour became available Tuesday, breaking records — and parts of the site itself. “Due to extremely high demands on our ticketing systems and insufficient ticket inventory remaining to meet this demand, tomorrow’s public offering for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled,” the ticketing site said on Twitter. Due to extremely high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient ticket inventory to meet this demand, tomorrow’s public offering for the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled. —@Ticketmaster It’s the latest chapter in the drama over Ticketmaster’s sales and pricing practices that has angered music fans and critics — including a U.S. senator — who cite high prices, concerns about the amount of power the platform has and a lack of competition in ticketing industry. “Eras on sale made one thing clear: Taylor Swift is an unstoppable force and continues to set records,” Ticketmaster wrote in an explanation posted on its website, noting that many fans were unable to get tickets. WATCHES | Fans React to Ticketmaster’s Taylor Swift Sale:
Taylor Swift fans on Ticketmaster: Now we have bad blood
Some Taylor Swift fans are venting their anger at Ticketmaster after a chaotic ticket launch for her upcoming Eras tour, marred by long waits, limited supply and technical difficulties.
Largest “Verified Fan” registration ever
During the presale, the platform asked fans to pre-register for its Verified Fan system, which it says is designed to help manage high-demand shows, eliminate bots and limit overcrowding to reduce waiting times. According to the website, more than 3.5 million fans pre-registered for the program, making it the largest sign-up the platform has ever seen. Ticketmaster says two million verified fans were put on a waiting list and 1.5 million were given the chance to get in line when the sale began. However, the company said an “unbelievable number of bot attacks” and fans without verified fan invitation codes caused “unprecedented traffic” and saw fans queue online for up to eight hours. Ticketmaster says more than two million tickets were sold to fans on Nov. 15, the most tickets ever sold for an artist in one day.
Fans angry over pre-sale issues, ‘dynamic pricing’
This isn’t the first time Ticketmaster has angered Swifties. In 2018, the price of tickets for her shows went up to US$1,500, and many fans complained that they were not even allowed into the program that would have allowed them to buy presale tickets at a more moderate price. Swift fans aren’t the only ones upset with the ticketing company. In July, people trying to buy tickets to see Bruce Springsteen waited hours in online lines and said they were concerned about Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system, which changes the price of tickets based on demand. With all the lower priced face value tickets long gone, the cost of tickets to see The Boss has soared up to US$5,000. This summer, Drake’s OVO festival at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheater sold out almost instantly. Shortly after that, seats on the lawn, furthest from the outdoor Budweiser Stage, are listed at $900. WATCHES | Springsteen fans outraged at cost to see The Boss:
Springsteen fans express outrage at Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’
Bruce Springsteen fans were shocked to see ticket prices reach US$5,500 for his upcoming tour. At the heart of the controversy is Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” policy, which automatically raises certain ticket prices when demand is high.
The US Senator is speaking
Among the fans who spoke out about the platform’s flaws was Democratic US Senator Amy Klobuchar, who wrote a letter to Live Nation Entertainment Inc, expressing “serious concern about the state of competition in the ticketing industry and its harmful effects on consumers ». “Ticketmaster’s strength in the primary ticket market insulates it from the competitive pressures that typically push companies to innovate and improve their services,” said Klobuchar, who chairs a Senate subcommittee on antitrust. “This can lead to the types of dramatic service failures we’ve seen this week, where consumers are the ones paying the price.” In her letter, Klobuchar asked Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino to answer a handful of questions, including how much the company had spent on upgrading technology to deal with surges in demand and what percentage of high-end tickets specifications was reserved for pre-sale. Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Klobuchar’s letter. Live Nation and Ticketmaster merged in a 2010 deal approved by the US Department of Justice. The government can challenge a completed merger, but rarely does. In her letter, Klobuchar said she was skeptical of the deal at the time. Ticketmaster has also come under fire from the artists themselves. In the mid-1990s, the band Pearl Jam said the company violated antitrust laws, used its monopoly to charge exorbitant fees and later pushed event organizers to deny artists access to other venues. The band decided to tour without using Ticketmaster, but found the process too cumbersome and returned to the service after 14 months.
