Taylor Swift stans (aka “Swifties”) and government officials are putting Ticketmaster on blast, as they’re accusing the platform of failing to meet demands sufficiently.
It all began when Taylor announced that she’ll soon embark on a tour in which she’ll take attendees on “a journey through the musical eras of [her] career.”
Swiftie Presale Madness Ensued
Once the presale tickets went live on Tuesday, all-out chaos ensued as people scrambled to secure their spot to see the “All Too Well” artist perform live.
Ticketmaster ultimately crashed due to the influx of Swifties, which the platform described as “historically unprecedented demand” in a tweet.
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 15, 2022
Understandably, Twitter was soon full of disgruntled Swifties expressing how utterly impossible it was to actually secure the Taylor Swift tickets.
The Taylor Swift ticket presale is proof that the hunger games could actually happen in real life
— Abi (@abiwilk_) November 15, 2022
i would like taylor swift herself to try to get tickets to her own show
— brie 🌈🌙✨ (@bettykissitbttr) November 15, 2022
Not now sweetie mommy is behind 2000+ people in the queue for Taylor Swift tickets pic.twitter.com/TY1yDm6CqG
— jordan 🐍 (@kinggoodies_) November 15, 2022
Waited in line for @taylorswift13 tickets for 8 hours today. And @SeatGeek charged me 14+ times for tickets I was never able to purchase. So now my bank accounts (happened on multiple cards) are frozen, I’m broke, it overdrafted my accounts, and I did NOT get tickets 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/OlbDiwPVr2
— Sydney Wallace (@SydneySarah1) November 16, 2022
girls don’t want boyfriends or girlfriends, they want taylor swift concert tickets
— The Eras Tour (@tswifterastour) November 16, 2022
taylor swift concert tickets are like PS5s for women
— Ali (@AliTheFern) November 15, 2022
Tennessee Attorney General Investigates Taylor Swift’s Ticketmaster Presale
With so much discussion on the Ticketmaster situation, it’s no surprise that it caught the attention of some noteworthy political figures.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) took to Twitter on Tuesday to call out Ticketmaster for being a “monopoly” that should be dismantled.
Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.
Break them up.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 15, 2022
Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and David Cicilline (D-R.I.) shared similar thoughts on the subject.
Break up Ticketmaster. https://t.co/oFxUrNmfSs
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 15, 2022
.@Ticketmaster's excessive wait times and fees are completely unacceptable, as seen with today's @taylorswift13 tickets, and are a symptom of a larger problem.
It’s no secret that Live Nation-Ticketmaster is an unchecked monopoly.
— Congressman David N. Cicilline (@RepCicilline) November 15, 2022
In fact, Swifties called so much attention to the Ticketmaster situation that the Attorney General of Tennessee, Jonathan Skrmetti (R), got involved and announced that he’d begin an investigation, WSMV reports.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is concerned about consumer complaints related to @Ticketmaster’s pre-sale of @taylorswift13 concert tickets. He and his Consumer Protection team will use every available tool to ensure that no consumer protection laws were violated.
— TN Attorney General (@AGTennessee) November 16, 2022
He further elaborated on his intentions during a press conference on Wednesday.
“If it’s a consumer protection violation and we can find exactly where the problems are, we can get a court order that makes the company do better. That makes sure the problems that happened yesterday don’t happen again,” Skrmetti declared. “I would hope the company is doing everything it can to make sure the customers, from today forward, have a much smoother and fairer experience.”
Ticketmaster’s Response
After being firmly placed in the hot seat, Ticketmaster representatives released addressed the controversy in a statement on Thursday and promised to do better in the future.
“We’re always working to improve the ticket buying experience. Especially for high demand on sales, which continue to test new limits,” the statement reads. “While it’s impossible for everyone to get tickets to these shows, we know we can do more to improve the experience and that’s what we’re focused on.”
Greg Maffi—the CEO of Liberty Media, which is affiliated with Ticketmaster, according to CNBC—also spoke on the situation. Specifically, he seemingly attempted to place the blame on factors outside of Ticketmaster itself.
“Reality, it’s a function of the massive demand that Taylor Swift has. The site was supposed to be opened up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift Fans. We had 14 million people hit the site—including bots, another story, which are not supposed to be there,” Maffi shared.
However, for those who were unable to secure their presale tickets for The Eras Tour, there’s still hope, as tickets will be sold to the general public starting on Friday.
What are your thoughts on the Ticketmaster situation?
