After Taylor Swift restructured her tour dates, she only initially allowed Ticketmaster to serve as the primary vendor for concert tickets. This caused her credibility to plummet and also led to an investigation from the US Senate. Read on for more on what went wrong and why this is such a big deal.
Introduction
In the early hours of August 18, tickets for Taylor Swift’s upcoming Reputation Stadium Tour went on sale to the general public. Within minutes, all dates were sold out and fans were scrambling to get their hands on tickets.
The only problem? Many of them never got the chance to buy a ticket. The website crashed, pages wouldn’t load, and people were getting error messages left and right.
It was a complete and utter disaster. And as it turns out, this isn’t the first time Ticketmaster has had issues with one of Swift’s tours. In fact, this is just the latest in a long string of problems that have plagued the company over the years.
So what exactly happened? And why is the US Senate involved? Keep reading to find out.
What is Ticketmaster and why did they sell too many tickets?
Ticketmaster is an online ticketing service that allows customers to purchase tickets to events online. The company has faced criticism in the past for selling too many tickets to popular events, leading to long lines and frustrated customers. In 2015, Ticketmaster was fined $1.5 million by the New York attorney general for overbooking concerts and failing to refund tickets when shows were canceled.
In July 2018, Taylor Swift announced her “Reputation” stadium tour in support of her album of the same name. The tour was set to begin in May 2019 and would visit stadiums across North America and Europe. Tickets went on sale in August 2018, and within minutes, all of the available tickets had been sold out.
Fans who were unable to get tickets complained of being redirected to resale sites like StubHub, where tickets were being offered at sky-high prices. Furious fans took to social media to voice their frustration, accusing Ticketmaster of selling too many tickets and driving up prices on the secondary market.
The US Senate launched an investigation into Ticketmaster’s practices, specifically looking into allegations that the company was colluding with scalpers to sell overpriced tickets. In June 2019, Ticketmaster agreed to settle the probe without admitting any wrongdoing. As part of the settlement, the company agreed to implement new anti-scalping measures and improve communication with customers about ticket availability.
Who is Paul Scholes/How were these tickets sold?
Paul Scholes is a retired English professional footballer who played his entire 20-year career with Manchester United. He is currently a co-owner of Salford City.
In May 2019, Scholes was charged with two counts of assault after an incident at a train station in Prestwich, Greater Manchester. The charges were later dropped after Scholes pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour with intent to cause fear of or provoke unlawful violence.
The tickets for Taylor Swift’s Reputation Stadium Tour were sold through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, which was designed to combat scalping and bots. However, many fans were unable to get tickets because they were not selected as verified fans, and there were also problems with the ticketing website crashing. These problems led to many people being unable to purchase tickets, and the tour eventually sold out.
When will Taylor Swift come to my town?
As one of the biggest pop stars in the world, it’s no surprise that Taylor Swift’s concert tickets sell out in an instant. That’s why many fans were left disappointed when they couldn’t get tickets to her recent tour. But what exactly happened?
It all started when Swift announced her tour dates on Ticketmaster. Within minutes, all of the tickets were sold out. Fans who weren’t able to get tickets took to social media to express their frustration.
This led to an investigation by the US Senate, which is now looking into whether or not Ticketmaster and other ticketing companies are using bots to buy up tickets and then resell them at a higher price. While this is still under investigation, it’s something that Swift’s fans will be keeping a close eye on.
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Conclusion
The Taylor Swift ticketing debacle is a perfect example of how the concert industry’s flawed paperless ticketing system can take a toll on fans. Industry insiders and lawmakers have known about these problems for years, but have failed to do anything about it. In the meantime, fans like Swift’s are left to suffer the consequences. Hopefully, the recent Senate hearing on this issue will lead to some much-needed reforms in the concert industry so that fans can get the fair treatment they deserve.