According to Ticketmaster, Taylor Swift fans attempting to purchase tickets for her “Eras” Tour encountered several problems.
To the dismay of the fans, the seller eventually stated that the entire event was cancelled.
Before making this monumental decision, Ticketmaster blamed the problem on bots and fans. Is it a hint of sabotage?
Swift, 32, announced a 27-city tour spanning 20 U.S. cities from March to August next year on November 1, causing a fan frenzy. Tickets went on sale on Tuesday, but due to “historically unprecedented demand” from millions of fans, the site crashed frequently and the process devolved into a disaster, with her fans enraged at the skyrocketing pricing and spending hours in line.
Following Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti that he would launch an investigation into Ticketmaster, the site has issued a lengthy response, blaming bots and fans without invite codes for causing “unprecedented traffic” of 3.5 billion users, which is four times the average number of users.
Before the sale began, fans were required to register with Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system, designed to:
“help manage high demand shows by identifying actual persons and weeding out bots.”
Taylor’s tour was extended by the artist team, doubling the available dates and tickets so more fans could attend the events.
Historically, approximately 40% of invited fans attend and buy tickets, with the majority buying three tickets on average. Approximately 1.5 million people were asked to purchase tickets for all 52 show dates, including the 47 sold by Ticketmaster, in collaboration with the artist’s team.
The remaining two million Verified Fans were put on a waiting list. Furthermore, Ticketmaster stated that in the past, working with Verified Fan invite codes worked because it was able to control the volume of people entering the site to buy tickets.
Never before has the purchase of a Verified Fan sparked so much interest or unwanted noise. However, an unprecedented number of bot attacks and followers without invite codes drove unprecedented traffic to our website, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests – four times our previous high. As a result, the typical predictability and dependability of their Verified Fan platform was jeopardized.
Much of the excitement surrounding Swift’s stadium tour stems from the record-breaking release of her new album “Midnights,” and the fact that the artist has not toured since the “Reputation” stadium tour in 2018. Her Lover Fest tour was canceled due to the pandemic. The “Eras” tour tickets range between $49 and $450, with VIP packages ranging from $199 to $880. Tickets on the secondary market range from $800 to $20,000.
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