Taylor Swift fans who descended upon Ticketmaster in hopes to snag presale tickets for the singer’s highly anticipated upcoming Eras tour on Tuesday have unfortunately been met with unexpected website crashes and long queues.
Recommended VideosTickets officially go on sale on Nov. 18, however those who signed up in advance for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, or happened to be a Capital One cardholder, were able to get early access on Nov. 15. A lot of good that did diehard Swifties, though, as fans who were actually able to load the website were notified that the queue had been paused, presumably while the company sorts out its technical difficulties, with over 2,000 people in front of them in most cases.
Because far be it from Ticketmaster to have actually anticipated a deluge in fans, and, you know, prepared accordingly. Not only is Swift’s new album Midnights the best-selling album of the year, but this marks her first tour since 2018. Of course this was going to happen.
Unfortunately, this is only the latest in a long string of public relations woes for the company, which has been under fire for years for its shady price gouging practices and adding deceptive processing fees to online tickets. In fact, the outcry for transparency from Ticketmaster reached a fever pitch earlier this year when the company was featured in a deep dive on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver — with the general takeaway being that congress needs to get involved and regulate the ticket-selling industry as a whole.
So it should come as no small surprise that livid fans took to social media to blast Ticketmaster for letting fans down once again. Sure, they might be willing to pay a premium for Taylor Swift tickets, but dealing with incompetency on the company’s part just adds insult to injury.
Many fans blasted the website for technical difficulties, because where are all those tacked-on fees going, if not to ensure that the very website doesn’t crash? (The answer is sadly in the pockets of Ticketmaster executives.)
what do the ticketmaster fees pay for because it's surely not making sure their infrastructure actually works
— moley (@karmoley) November 15, 2022
ticketmaster trying to fix this god awful website rn
— Lyndsey 🕰| fan account (@wisteriawillows) November 15, 2022
ticketmaster is like “we’re sorry about all the technical problems, this demand was unexpected” as if taylor swift isn’t one of the biggest artists in the galaxy
— jessica (@enchantedjess13) November 15, 2022
dear ticketmaster
— mad elegant 🐍 (@sydinrealtime) November 15, 2022
it’s honestly impressive how ticketmaster has single handedly monopolized the live event industry for YEARS and yet they still can’t run a functioning website
— bella ⚔️ (@achingblush) November 15, 2022
Others raged about the seemingly never-ending queue, which was still “temporarily” paused at the time of this writing. “Where is Ticketmaster headquarters we’re bout to January 6th y’all,” quipped one user.
Where is Ticketmaster headquarters we’re bout to January 6th y’all
— 👀 (@jenigmama) November 15, 2022
Me if this queue doesn’t stop being temporarily paused in the next 2 seconds #TaylorSwiftErasTour #TaylorSwiftTix #Ticketmaster
— *muscle man voice* my mom (@rbotus) November 15, 2022
8 billion people in the world and every single one of them is ahead of me in the taylor swift ticketmaster queue apparently
— shawty lynn 🧣 (@HereComesShawty) November 15, 2022
This is absolute insanity. Congress needs to get involved. #Ticketmaster #ErasTour
— Rachael (@rsvptorachael) November 15, 2022
Me waiting in the paused Taylor Swift Ticketmaster queue for OVER AN HOUR:
— Lauren (@Laurparkerr) November 15, 2022
taylor swift walking onto stage with no one in the audience, because that ticketmaster queue never did move.
— sarah 🕰 (@thisismenotryin) November 15, 2022
And at least a handful of fans used the lyrics of Swift’s new single “Anti-Hero” to call out Ticketmaster as being the problem, which … well, point to the lie?
“it’s me hi i’m the problem it’s me” #Ticketmaster
— bxndtrxsh (produced by michael clifford) (@mikeyshair83015) November 15, 2022
it’s ticketmaster, hi, they’re the problem it’s them
— The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) November 15, 2022
when you're trying to get taylor swift tix but ticketmaster keeps crashing
— Meg (@mplevz) November 15, 2022
Well, with any luck, perhaps this latest kerfuffle will finally put Ticketmaster in the crosshairs of lawmakers who might finally do something about the company’s shady practices. Less in luck are Swifties who might attempt to score tickets once the tour officially opens up to the unwashed masses. If this is the presale, we can shudder to imagine what the sale is going to look like.
