Millions of Taylor Swift fans searched the Ticketmaster website for seats on their first tour in five years on Tuesday, prompting regular cancellations and long online waits that often ended in disappointment.
The ticket sales site, which is owned by Live Nation Entertainment, Inc., told fans via a statement on Twitter Tuesday morning that there were “temporary issues” that the company was “urgently” working to resolve.
Ticketmaster later tweeted that there had been “historically unprecedented demand” for Swifts The Epoch Tour — her first since 2018 — by millions of people. Ticket sales for West Coast shows were delayed by three hours.
Fans reported waiting in online lines for up to eight hours, and many felt they were too late to purchase tickets, which cost between $49 and $449 each.
“As a father, I’m a failure,” wrote Dave Pell, author of the popular NextDraft newsletter.
“The one time my daughter really needed me to get through for her, I ended up outside and looking in, relegated to the barren wastelands of the Taylor Swift ticket waiting list,” he said.
US lawmakers criticize Ticketmaster
Other Swifties, the nickname given to Swift’s fans, said they’d been repeatedly pulled from queues and turned their ire on Ticketmaster. Some said they took a day off and felt the process should have gone more smoothly.
A Ticketmaster spokesman said the number of people who had registered to presale more than doubled the number of tickets available, and millions of others had also come online to buy.
“This caused some delays for fans which we know is frustrating and we have been working as quickly as possible to adjust some sale times to handle the volume and queues are now flowing,” the spokesperson said.
A Democratic US MP also criticized the company.
“@Ticketmaster’s excessive wait times and fees are totally unacceptable as can be seen with today’s @taylorswift13 tickets,” wrote Rep. David Cicilline on Twitter.
.@TicketmasterExcessive waiting times and fees are totally unacceptable, as can be seen with today’s @taylorswift13 Tickets and are a symptom of a larger problem.
It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unaudited monopoly.
He added that the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which had been approved by the US Department of Justice, should not have been allowed. “It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an uncontrolled monopoly,” he said.
Cicilline, chairman of the House Antitrust Committee, called on the Justice Department to investigate. The agency declined to comment.
Ticketing industry frustrates customers
The ticketing industry has frustrated customers for years with hidden fees, limited ticket availability due to pre-sales, and other irritations.
Waits of several hours were also reported at ticket seller SeatGeek, which sold tickets to Swift shows in Arlington, Texas and Glendale, Arizona.
CLOCK | Ticketmaster’s Dynamic Pricing Frustrates Fans:
Bruce Springsteen’s fans were shocked to see ticket prices of up to $5,500 for his upcoming tour. At the heart of the controversy is Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing” policy, which automatically increases some ticket prices when demand is high.
Hundreds of thousands of people have snagged tickets for Swift’s tour, Ticketmaster said. Another presale for Capital One credit card holders has been pushed back from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Swift has released her latest album, midnight, in October. She has promised hits from albums spanning her entire career epochs Trip. The US tour is scheduled to begin in March and end in August.
Some buyers already wanted to benefit from the enthusiasm. Resale sites like Stubhub were offering slots for up to $18,000 each Tuesday afternoon.
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