Ticketmaster is Another Picture to Burn for Swifties
By Mia Howell
By Mia Howell
I vividly remember the day in third grade when the Girl Scout troop I was a part of went to Taylor Swift’s 1989 World Tour, without inviting me. The next day, they all came to school wearing matching tour shirts. Ever since that moment I have been determined to see Taylor Swift in concert. I have been a Swiftie since the day “Speak Now” was released.
The moment I found out that Swift was going to release a new album, I was ecstatic. “Midnights” has become one of my top three favorite Swift albums, so when she announced her Eras Tour, my heart became set on going. The original presale was set for Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. local venue time, but due to large amounts of traffic and website malfunctions, the sale was pushed back to 3 p.m. That entire situation would've, and could've, been avoided if Ticketmaster had required presale codes before being allowed to join the queue.
On Tuesday at exactly 3 p.m., I joined the Ticketmaster queue along with millions of others who had been fortunate to get a presale code. There were 3.5 million people who signed up for presale and only 1.5 million fans received a presale code. Many people used multiple accounts to do this, so many real fans missed out on receiving codes. I joined the queue with over 16,000 people in front of me, so I was anything but fearless. I waited for two hours and once I got to the page to buy tickets, they were completely sold out. I was upset, but luckily there was still the Capital One presale, which provided me with another chance to get tickets. Once again I joined the queue for a chance to get tickets, but this time there were only 600 people in front of me, so I was one of the lucky ones.
I managed to get tickets after waiting so long, fulfilling a determination I’ve held since the moment I was left out. I was sad that a lot of my friends had not gotten tickets, but was hopeful that they would get them during the general sale. But then on Nov. 17, Ticketmaster released a statement on Twitter saying that the general sale was canceled due to an insufficient amount of tickets.
With their statement, Ticketmaster made it seem that it was Swift’s fault for what happened as she has not toured since 2018. What angers me that Ticketmaster was quick to pass the blame onto the artist instead of taking accountability for the situation that could’ve been avoided. Ticketmaster was the one who determined how many presale codes to release, invalidating their quick action to blame Swift. The platform acts shocked with the demand for tickets, but Ticketmaster’s job is to sell tickets. It is not a secret how popular Swift is and she is going to be touring all her albums. If these factors were taken into account, this would not have occurred in the first place. Selling tickets is nothing new for Ticketmaster, so the fact that they are shocked about the demand for Swift’s tour bewilders me.
Some fans have been quick to blame Swift for this situation, but others really need to take a step back. Some fans are calling for Ticketmaster to refund all tickets and redo the presale, however that is simply unfair and an entitled way of looking at this situation. The actions of Ticketmaster and its parent company, LiveNation, should not be taken out on people who were able to get tickets.
In an Instagram story post, Swift stated, “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.” While some fans aren’t pleased with her statement, I am more than satisfied with the way she handled the situation. I think it is incredibly powerful of her to not take responsibility for other people's mistakes. Women are often blamed for things that are not their fault, Taylor Swift included, so I feel that her response is valid.
It is not fair for Swift to be the scapegoat for what happened. It was Ticketmaster’s responsibility to ensure that the sale went smoothly. While I do agree that she is one of the most, if not the most influential music artists of this generation, her hands are tied in certain ways too. Live Nation owns over 200 venues, so unless Swift wants to perform in smaller venues, she has to work with Ticketmaster.
The moment I found out that Swift was going to release a new album, I was ecstatic. “Midnights” has become one of my top three favorite Swift albums, so when she announced her Eras Tour, my heart became set on going. The original presale was set for Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. local venue time, but due to large amounts of traffic and website malfunctions, the sale was pushed back to 3 p.m. That entire situation would've, and could've, been avoided if Ticketmaster had required presale codes before being allowed to join the queue.
On Tuesday at exactly 3 p.m., I joined the Ticketmaster queue along with millions of others who had been fortunate to get a presale code. There were 3.5 million people who signed up for presale and only 1.5 million fans received a presale code. Many people used multiple accounts to do this, so many real fans missed out on receiving codes. I joined the queue with over 16,000 people in front of me, so I was anything but fearless. I waited for two hours and once I got to the page to buy tickets, they were completely sold out. I was upset, but luckily there was still the Capital One presale, which provided me with another chance to get tickets. Once again I joined the queue for a chance to get tickets, but this time there were only 600 people in front of me, so I was one of the lucky ones.
I managed to get tickets after waiting so long, fulfilling a determination I’ve held since the moment I was left out. I was sad that a lot of my friends had not gotten tickets, but was hopeful that they would get them during the general sale. But then on Nov. 17, Ticketmaster released a statement on Twitter saying that the general sale was canceled due to an insufficient amount of tickets.
With their statement, Ticketmaster made it seem that it was Swift’s fault for what happened as she has not toured since 2018. What angers me that Ticketmaster was quick to pass the blame onto the artist instead of taking accountability for the situation that could’ve been avoided. Ticketmaster was the one who determined how many presale codes to release, invalidating their quick action to blame Swift. The platform acts shocked with the demand for tickets, but Ticketmaster’s job is to sell tickets. It is not a secret how popular Swift is and she is going to be touring all her albums. If these factors were taken into account, this would not have occurred in the first place. Selling tickets is nothing new for Ticketmaster, so the fact that they are shocked about the demand for Swift’s tour bewilders me.
Some fans have been quick to blame Swift for this situation, but others really need to take a step back. Some fans are calling for Ticketmaster to refund all tickets and redo the presale, however that is simply unfair and an entitled way of looking at this situation. The actions of Ticketmaster and its parent company, LiveNation, should not be taken out on people who were able to get tickets.
In an Instagram story post, Swift stated, “I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could.” While some fans aren’t pleased with her statement, I am more than satisfied with the way she handled the situation. I think it is incredibly powerful of her to not take responsibility for other people's mistakes. Women are often blamed for things that are not their fault, Taylor Swift included, so I feel that her response is valid.
It is not fair for Swift to be the scapegoat for what happened. It was Ticketmaster’s responsibility to ensure that the sale went smoothly. While I do agree that she is one of the most, if not the most influential music artists of this generation, her hands are tied in certain ways too. Live Nation owns over 200 venues, so unless Swift wants to perform in smaller venues, she has to work with Ticketmaster.