The disaster of Ticketmaster

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Anna Frazier, Staff Writer

Recently Taylor Swift announced her 52 night stadium tour around the U.S. for her new album “Midnights.” Her devoted Swifties from across the country were ecstatic to receive tickets. Unfortunately, only a small number of individuals were successful in receiving them. 

On Nov. 16, 2022, it was a mad dash for fans everywhere. The presale began as well as an eight hour wait. Desperate for tickets, Swift’s followers were willing to sit in a queue as long as it took. Even after waiting all day, it wasn’t a guaranteed purchase. There were 3.5 million people trying to enter as they were granted special access. Oftentimes, Ticketmaster would kick them out of the website while they were entering their card information or it would say it was all sold out. These events led to many fans becoming furious at the website and even Swift herself.

After the first presale, there was an exclusive event for Capital One cardholders. Most believed that they were more likely to receive them that way but that wasn’t the case. The same problems began with this site and less people acquired tickets this time.

There was a large problem with people purchasing as many tickets as possible and reselling them for outrageous prices. This caused the concert to not be affordable whatsoever. The pricing of concerts have been a huge concern and this tour is one of the main evidences of the problem. They ranged from $500 and beyond. Not even Swift’s biggest fans want to spend thousands of dollars for a ticket that isn’t even in the pit.

For Swift’s older albums such as “Fearless,” tickets for the tour were under $100. Now even though the profit she is receiving from the millions of streams every month is vast, the prices are higher than ever. 

Multiple fans decided to band together to sue Ticketmaster for claiming they could handle the large crowd and failing to do so. An antitrust investigation because of their lies. It is focused on Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation Entertainment, questioning if they abused their power in the music industry. Lawyers across the country are working with them to attain $2,500 for each law broken. 

Over two million tickets ended up being sold and the main sale has been officially canceled. The only people who were able to get them were completely chosen at random. Swift put out a statement on her Instagram story apologizing, claiming she made sure that they could handle it. Sadly, it doesn’t change the fact that if tickets weren’t received at the presale, they never will be. 

Contact Anna Frazier at [email protected]