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Ticketmaster in Turmoil

Ticketmaster faced intense criticism for mishandling ticket sales for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, with their site crashing under high traffic. Over 3.5 million people pre-registered, but many were unable to purchase tickets due to technical issues. This prompted backlash from fans and politicians, with Swift expressing disappointment. Ticketmaster later apologized and pledged to improve their systems and customer experience.

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29 views4 pages

Ticketmaster in Turmoil

Ticketmaster faced intense criticism for mishandling ticket sales for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour, with their site crashing under high traffic. Over 3.5 million people pre-registered, but many were unable to purchase tickets due to technical issues. This prompted backlash from fans and politicians, with Swift expressing disappointment. Ticketmaster later apologized and pledged to improve their systems and customer experience.

Uploaded by

Vanessa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Ticketmaster in Turmoil

The Eras Tour Fiasco

Vanessa Rice

Tourism and Event Management, Holland College

MKTG 2020: Public Relations

Kathie Coffin Sulis

February 14, 2024


In November 2022 Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment,

faced intense criticism and scrutiny for mishandling the ticket sales of the United States leg of

the Eras Tour, Taylor Swift's sixth concert tour. Ticketmaster used a program that had not failed

them in the past, TaylorSwiftTix Presale powered by Verified Fan, which ensures tickets end up

in the hands of real fans rather than scalpers or bots. According to Ticketmaster over 3.5 million

people pre-registered, the largest registration in history, and 1.5 million people were sent presale

codes with the other 2 million placed on a waitlist.

The day of the tickets going on sale, November 15th, saw Ticketmaster’s largest day for

traffic in the website’s history, with fans who did not receive a code, bots, and the fans with

codes attempting to access the site totalling in 3.5 billion total system requests. This excess of

traffic caused the site to crash repeatedly, wait times that were hours long, technical glitches, as

well as pre sales that were rescheduled or canceled. Although, other complaints that can not be

accredited to site traffic included exorbitant fees as well as the cost of tickets increasing based on

demand, a system ticketmaster called Dynamic Pricing.

Backlash from those who felt slighted and as though they missed their chance was

obvious on social media, so obvious in fact that it caught the attention of many politicians in

Washington. Within 24 hours this issue had become a political football, thrown around in order

to emphasize the danger of Ticketmaster/Live Nation having a near-monopoly over the business

of ticket sales. Fans also called upon Swift to comment on the situation and three days later, on

November 18th, she did. Swift took to social media to express her disappointment in the

company after they had assured her team that the extreme traffic would not be an issue for their

servers. She felt that she had put her trust, and her fans' trust and hard earned money, in the hands

of a company that failed them.


Statement for Ticketmaster CEO

To Our Valued Ticketmaster Customers,

We at Ticketmaster would like to address the recent challenges encountered during the

ticket sales for the Eras Tour, and we want to assure you that we are taking your concerns

seriously.

First and foremost we would like to apologize to each and every person who experienced

frustration, disruption, and any unnecessary stress due to their experience using Ticketmaster on

November 15th. Music fans and the passion they bring to the industry are the foundation of our

operations, especially the intense enthusiasm within the swiftie community, and we regret any

actions that put the trust and dependance of our customers at risk. We empathize with your

feelings around the situation and your concerns are being heard. If you have been impacted and

have not shared your experience we welcome you to submit a form on our website or contact our

help desk.

We are committed to rectifying the situation and ensuring it never happens again. Our

team is making certain that our servers will be able to handle such traffic as well as conducting a

review of our pricing structure and fees. We've fallen short, we’ve let our customers down, and

we are taking immediate steps to ensure a more fair, accessible, and enjoyable ticketing

experience for all.

In the aftermath of these struggles we at Ticketmaster see an opportunity to

improve and reassure our customers and artists that we are the premiere platform for ticket sales.

We are dedicated to rebuilding the trust of a community that we feel honored to be apart of and

have gained a renewed commitment to your satisfaction. We are grateful for the opportunity to

serve you better. Looking ahead, we are ecstatic to continue providing you with live event
experiences that leave a lasting impression. Thank you for your understanding and continued

support.

Sincerely,

Michael Rapino (CEO)

Mark Yovich (president)

Ticketmaster

Taylor Swift's Ticketmaster disaster | Nightline

The company responded by increasing their servers and scattering the times that tickets went on

sale so it wasn’t taking on the demand for all locations at once. Ticketmaster can have continued

success if they commit to listening to customer feedback and focusing on customer service.

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