Ticketmaster verified fan taylor swift second chance
Some Taylor Swift fans could have a second chance at snagging tour tickets Ticketmaster said
Millions of enraged Taylor Swift fans were denied tickets to the artist’s latest tour following a widely publicised blunder with ticket sales. However, Ticketmaster announced on Monday that a select group of fans may be able to receive tickets after all.
The lucky fans are those who registered as “verified.” According to a Ticketmaster post, they were notified by email on Monday and will receive their individual invite to submit their purchase request before December 23. The invitations will be distributed in stages based on the tour dates in each city.
You have been identified as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets,” the email said. “We apologize for the difficulties you may have experienced, and have been asked by Taylor’s team to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets.”
Swift fans across the country were irritated by pre-sale tickets for “The Eras Tour,” which remained in the news for weeks. “Verified Fans” were sent a presale code in November, but when sales began, the website became clogged, and millions of Swifties were unable to purchase a ticket. Ticketmaster cancelled sales to the general public due to “extraordinarily high demand” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory,” citing “extraordinarily high demand” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”
On Monday, Ticketmaster explained how to get a second chance for tickets: After the request window closes, fans will receive a summary of their purchase as well as an email informing them whether or not their request has been confirmed. When a fan’s request is confirmed, their credit card will be charged, and they will be sent instructions on how to claim the tickets.
While tickets are not guaranteed, Ticketmaster stated that it would do its “best” to provide verified fans with an additional option to purchase tickets if the specific price range requested by the fan is unavailable.
Swift spoke out earlier this month in a heartfelt post about the ticketing “mistakes,” writing on Instagram that there were a “multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time” getting tickets, and said the experience was “excruciating” for her to watch.
In a blog post that has since been taken down, Ticketmaster said its “Verified Fans” system, a mechanism aimed at eliminating bots by giving presale codes to individuals, couldn’t keep up with the intense demand. Roughly 3.5 million people signed up for the program to buy Swift tickets, its “largest registration in history.” That unprecedented demand, combined with a “staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have invite codes” drove “unprecedented traffic” to its site, Ticketmaster said, and, essentially, broke it.
Ticketmaster apologised to Swift and her fans for the “terrible experience” some had while trying to buy tickets for Swift’s tour, and said it would work to “shore up our tech for the new bar that has been set by demand.”
The ticketing debacle drew the ire of several lawmakers, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, who wrote an open letter to Ticketmaster’s CEO, saying she has “serious concerns” about the company’s operations.
In a letter sent earlier this month to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino, the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded a briefing on what went wrong and what steps the company is taking to address the issues.
In addition, the Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into Live Nation, a source told CNN, to determine whether the company has a monopoly in the market for concerts, including ticket purchasing.
Live Nation responded on its website, saying it “takes its responsibilities under antitrust laws seriously” and “does not engage in behaviours that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders requiring it to change fundamental business practises.”
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