If you haven’t heard, Taylor Swift recently released her new album, Midnights by Taylor Swift, and has been taking the world by storm ever since. After breaking several records, sweeping various awards and making Swifties across the world question if they Would’ve, Could’ve, or Should’ve expected more, the singer, and songwriter announced and launched presale tickets to her long-awaited US Tour. Taylor Swift Eras Tour Presale Tickets were made available for “hardcore fans” through the Ticketmaster Verified Fan program which claimed to shorten the wait time, filter bots and make the process easier. However, fans were harshly reminded that You’re On Your Own Kid, You Always Have Been, as the Eras Tour Presales began and ended riddled with glitches and errors. And as Ticketmaster is rumoured to face a federal investigation, a heartbroken and frustrated Taylor Swift opened up about the blunders in the Taylor Swift Ticket sales and fans continue to voice their disappointment at the entire ordeal. Here’s everything you need to know about the Eras Tour Tickets fiasco.

Eras Tour Tickets Online Sales

There were two main ways that Taylor Swift fans could access the Eras Tour Tickets before it was released to the general public. The first, hosted by the monopoly event ticketing company in the United States — Ticketmaster — was a presale from November 15 to 17. To combat the high demand, a Ticketmaster Verified Fan program was put in place. This meant people had to first check if they qualified as a Verified Fan and only then prep for the presales. Additionally, certain credit card holders also had access to the presales (in the case of Eras Tour, it is Capital One Credit Cards). The Ticketmaster Presales went live on November 15, while the Capital One Presales began later. Taylor Swift Wins Maximum Honours at the American Music Awards 2022; Takes Home Six Awards Including ‘Artist of the Year’.

Ticketmaster’s Presale Fiasco

If you checked any social media platforms in the last week, you know that the presale did not go as planned. Despite the verified program, the platform could not sustain the “unprecedented” traffic of Swifties across the United States who were eager to watch Taylor Swift perform on stage after five years. This led to waiting times and queues that went on for 8-10 hours, and even at the end of it, people were left with no tickets. The presales, which sold more than 2.4 million tickets, led to Ticketmaster actually having to cancel the actual Eras Tour General Ticket Sales, because  —  maybe  —  they were not prepared for these numbers.

Eras Tour Presale Tickets Online Resale

While real verified fans struggled to find tickets after the hours-long waiting time, people saw a sudden rise of tickets on reselling platforms like SeatGeek, with prices going as high as 30,000 dollars for one ticket. And well, that is not all, even on these platforms, many struggled to get the tickets even at a higher price.

Taylor Swift’s Response

If you know anything about Taylor Swift, it is that she has been very considerate of her fans and their experience. Her silence during the initial days of the presales, therefore, left fans feeling more isolated. Well, she finally broke her silence with a hard-hitting response towards those responsible for this and apologetic towards her fans. Upset Taylor Swift Says She Was Told Ticketmaster Could Handle Demand.

Taylor Swift's Response on Instagram (Screenshot From Official Account)

The Federal Investigation

If there is one thing that the world knows, it is the power and determination of Swifties  — who pushed Taylor for years to release the 10-minute version of All Too Well, which has won her multiple awards. And well, their clear disappointment combined with a critical review of the actual situation seemed to have been heard by all the right people. Because a few days ago, the United States Department of Justice began investigating the parent company of Ticketmaster — Live Nation. According to several media reports, the investigation, which predates the Ticketmaster failure with Taylor Swift ticket sales, is focusing on whether Live Nation is abusing its market dominance in the ticket industry.

Ticketmaster’s response

Ticketmaster initially apologised to Taylor Swift as well as Swifties but did so while blaming the “unprecedented” traffic (which many have pointed out should have been known since everyone had to register for the Verified Fan Program). Additionally, they also highlighted that the partnership with Ticketmaster was a choice and that the Dynamic Pricing (which meant that the same tickets could be bought at a lower cost by someone, and would appear at a much higher rate for others based on various factors) was done with proper consideration. But the latest turn of events, that has added fuel to this fire is confirmation from Taylor Swift’s tour promoter  — AEG Presents  — that they had no real choice. Since the majority of venues that Taylor Swift was performing at had exclusive deals with Ticketmaster, they had to go with them as the ticketing partner.

While fans in the US patiently wait to understand where things turn, the few who have gotten tickets are surely counting down the days till the Eras Tour begins. The tour is slated to begin in March 2023. And while Taylor has only announced the venues and dates across the United States, International venues and dates are also expected to be added soon.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 24, 2022 09:18 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).