Some Taylor Swift fans will get another chance to buy ‘Eras Tour’ tickets. What to know
After a tumultuous month, some lucky Taylor Swift fans might have another chance to buy tickets to the singer’s upcoming “The Eras Tour.”
In an email sent Monday, Dec. 12, Ticketmaster notified some fans that they were selected to request to purchase two tickets to the tour, according to a copy of the email obtained by McClatchy News. The email was sent to fans “who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets.”
“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,” the email said.
Fans who received the email will get an invitation from Ticketmaster to request their tickets by Dec. 23, according to the email. Invitations will be staggered by tour dates.
Following the invitation, fans can request to purchase tickets between a certain window of time, Ticketmaster said in a Dec. 12 blog post. The request will then be processed and will be confirmed or denied. If confirmed, fans can then claim their tickets in their Ticketmaster account.
If a fan’s request is not confirmed, Ticketmaster said it will try to provide additional opportunities to purchase tickets.
Ticketmaster did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for information.
Unprecedented ticket demand
Pre-sale for Swift’s tour began Tuesday, Nov. 15. In an effort to regulate sales, the first round of sales was only intended for “Verified Fans” who had been granted a code to access the pre-sale. The public sale was scheduled for Friday but was canceled due to record-breaking demand.
“Over 3.5 million people pre-registered for Taylor’s Verified Fan, which is the largest registration in history,” the post said. “Historically, around 40% of invited fans actually show up and buy tickets, and most purchase an average of 3 tickets.”
Given this, 1.5 million fans received codes and the remaining 2 million were placed on a waiting list.
However, when pre-sale started, 3.5 billion people attempted to buy tickets, four times the previous peak, Ticketmaster said. As a result of the unprecedented demand, about 15% of interactions experienced some kind of disruption, including fans who lost their tickets due to passcode verification errors.
Fans, officials and Taylor react
Following the cancellation of the public sale, fans, officials and Swift shared their thoughts.
“You LITERALLY HAVE ONE PURPOSE, which is to sell tickets. And you are terrible at it. And have been for so so long,” a fan responded to Ticketmaster’s announcement that public sale was canceled.
Lawmakers, too, have taken notice and are calling for Ticketmaster to be broken up.
“Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, (its) merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) tweeted.
Swift, too, shared her thoughts on the situation.
“There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward,” Swift said in a Nov. 18 Instagram story post. “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.”
Now, fans who received a second-chance email, are sharing their excitement.
“I LOVE waking up to see people receiving emails from Ticketmaster with the chance to buy two tickets to the eras tour! I’m so proud and thankful for Taylor and her team doing their very best to rectify the situation,” one user tweeted.
“It has been a glorious day for swifties…,” another wrote in a tweet.
This story was originally published December 12, 2022 at 4:58 PM with the headline "Some Taylor Swift fans will get another chance to buy ‘Eras Tour’ tickets. What to know."
