Ticketmaster has canceled its planned public sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s latest tour after a whirlwind few days that demonstrated not only Swift’s extraordinary fan following but also the limitations of music’s dominant ticketing system.
The public sale, planned for Friday, was for any tickets left over from the week’s presales. Ticketmaster did not indicate whether any more ticket inventory was left to sell. A representative of Swift did not respond to a request for comment.
The question fans are asking right now is, what made Ticketmasters cancel Taylor Swift’s ticket sale? Read through to find out.
Why Did Ticketmaster Cancel Taylor Swift?
The website was initially planned to accommodate 1.5 million verified fans, but in a surprising turn of events, 14 million users, including bots, flooded the site, according to Live Nation Chairman Greg Maffei in a Thursday interview with CNBC.
Despite the high number, Ticketmaster managed to sell 2 million tickets on Tuesday, as shared by Maffei.
The Capital One cardholder’s presale, initially set for that afternoon, had to be rescheduled to Wednesday.
To address the unprecedented demand and ensure a smoother process, Ticketmaster also decided on Thursday to cancel the general ticket sale that was originally slated for Friday.
Is Ticketmaster to Blame?
Critics have consistently voiced concerns about the company’s practices, accusing it of imposing high fees on sales and benefiting from its secondary market website.
This secondary market, according to detractors, facilitates the hoarding of tickets by resellers and encourages price gouging. Many argue that Ticketmaster’s overwhelming presence in the market enables such practices.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) joined the conversation on Tuesday, emphasizing in a tweet that the company, which merged with concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment in 2010, should undergo restructuring.
What Was Taylor Swift’s Response to The Issue?
On the previous Friday, Taylor Swift on Instagram, spoke out about the ticketing hurdles her fans confronted. In her statement, she recognized the difficulties people came across while attempting to obtain tickets and conveyed her dedication to discovering methods to amplify the procedure in the coming days.
Swift abstained from explicitly identifying Ticketmaster but indicated that she and her team had frequently probed about their capability to handle the immense demand.
Despite seeking guarantees from the ticketing platform, the predicaments endured, compelling Swift to ponder about enhancements in the future.
Final Word
Swift expressed her distress witnessing fans grapple to secure tickets, describing it as an “excruciating” experience. She had received assurances that Ticketmaster could manage the surge in demand.
In its prepared statement before facing questions from US senators on Tuesday, the company revealed for the first time the challenges posed by software “bots” targeting its systems, aiming to unlawfully acquire tickets.
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