By: Michaela Thimot

People Editor

After the release of four albums in a little over two years, including two rerecordings and two new albums, popstar and global sensation Taylor Swift announced her “Eras Tour” beginning on Mar. 17 in Glendale, Arizona, and stretching across 17 states. 

With the release of her new album Midnights on Oct. 21, Swift claimed all top ten spots on the Billboard Top 100 charts, becoming the first artist in history to do so. Her immense popularity and the years of buildup to her tour made millions of fans eager to buy tickets to her show. Through her social media, Swift announced that the Ticketmaster verified fan presale for the show would begin on Nov. 15 at 10:00 AM local venue time. Around 3.5 million fans received a presale code with the option to buy up to six tickets, but Ticketmaster later announced that over 14 million fans and bots attempted to buy tickets. Minutes before the sale began, Ticketmaster crashed, and the company quickly informed fans that they would reschedule the presale for later that day. Many fans obtained tickets later in the day, but the majority were left to wait until Friday, Nov. 18.  

The remaining millions of fans waiting to get tickets continued their wait after Ticketmaster canceled the Friday sale due to the Tuesday fiasco. Ticketmaster officials claimed it would be able to account for the substantial number of users attempting to buy tickets, but the events of Nov. 15 and Nov. 18 quickly proved them wrong. Many of the tickets already purchased were sold through other sites at an upcharge of thousands of dollars and Swift’s team apologized to the fans.The pandemic, coupled with Swift’s unparalleled popularity, substantially increased ticket demand, and Ticketmaster didn’t account for the severity of the increase, which is why the sale failed. 

Many politicians and other services condemned Ticketmaster for its alleged monopoly, including numerous Democratic House members, who commented that problems with the monopoly began when Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation back in 2010. The sale sparked discussions centered around how the companies should never have been allowed to complete that merger. Representative David N. Cicilline pointed out how the failure of the sale is just “a symptom of a larger problem. It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.”

Ticketmaster released a statement the day of the site crash saying, “There has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up to buy tickets for the TaylorSwiftTix Presale.” The company thanked fans for their patience as they attempted to fix the problem. As of Dec. 12, neither Ticketmaster nor Swift has announced if there will be another sale to give more fans a chance to see the popstar live in concert.

(Sources: NY Times, USA Today, Billboard)