An Era of Madness for “The Eras Tour”
Ethan Antalosky | Editor
Taylor Swift's Newly announced “Eras Tour” has reached unprecedented benchmarks in event ticket sales and concert touring history. It’s something of a dream for an artist like Taylor, but for fans purchasing tickets it turned out to be nothing but a nightmare.
As an unapologetic Swiftie, I am extremely happy for Taylor and proud to be a part of a ground-breaking legacy for her and the music industry as a whole.
I am one of the lucky ones who was able to snag tickets at a reasonable price. Although I am over the moon about having tickets, my purchase left me with a bit of guilt. To explain why, I have to tell the full story.
Ticketmaster, the world’s leading seller of concert and sporting event tickets, planned an official presale for the Eras Tour that was set to begin on November 14 at 10 a.m. Fans could apply on Ticketmaster’s website and have the chance to participate in the presale by being randomly chosen and sent a code. Ticketmaster and Taylor Swift herself planned the presale as an effort to keep the tickets in the hands of the fans and away from bots and scalpers. True fans of Taylor could purchase tickets at a reasonable price without having to go through resellers who astronomically jack up the prices.
Presale day comes, and I log into Ticketmaster along with millions of other fans. At 10 a.m. exactly we are all swiftly (no pun intended) ushered into the digital queue, thus beginning a day of stress and uncertainty. I, thankfully, got through in a quick six and a half hours, purchased my tickets, and mourned the death of my last paycheck.
After checking social media, I promptly learned that many other fans had a far worse experience than I. Many experienced website crashes, purchase denials, and some were even kicked out of the queue after waiting four hours or more.
It goes without saying that the “Eras Tour” presale absolutely backfired on Ticketmaster, and left me and millions of others with too many questions to enumerate. Ticketmaster issued a statement explaining that they underestimated the number of buyers at the presale.
They also released a separate statement saying, “Over 3.5 million people pre-registered for TaylorSwiftTix presale. Around 1.5 million were sent codes to join.”
This subsequently left the public asking how could such an underestimation be made, when they knew exactly how many fans would be showing up to purchase tickets? Even Taylor, herself, issued a statement saying, “I’ve done this specifically to improve the quality of my fans’ experience… It’s really difficult and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”
After all the negative views of Ticketmaster started pouring in, conversations began about how ticket sales should be held in the future. Even the United States Congress has discussed the apparent monopoly Ticketmaster has on event ticket sales.
Nevertheless, I’m heartbroken watching droves of Taylor Swift fans break down because of their nightmarish experiences trying to buy tickets to see Taylor’s first tour in nearly four years. I really hope that something good comes out of this incident, not just for my fellow Swifties, but for the future of the music and touring industries.