Swifties, your girl has spoken about the Ticketmaster crisis.
Taylor Swift took to Instagram on Friday to express her anger and frustration at the difficulties her fans faced trying to buy tickets for her upcoming tour.
People trying to buy tickets Tuesday in an advance sale for Swift’s The Eras tour were met with massive delays and error messages that Ticketmaster blamed on bots and historically unprecedented demand. A general public sale scheduled for Friday was canceled Thursday.
“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle these types of demands and we were assured they could,” Swift wrote on her Instagram story.
“It’s really amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really bothers me that so many of them feel like they’ve had multiple bear attacks to get them.”
For those who didn’t get tickets, Swift said she hopes to “give us more opportunities to come together and sing these songs.”
Swift posted this story on Instagram Friday, expressing anger and frustration at the difficulties her fans faced Tuesday as they tried to purchase tickets for her upcoming tour. (Instagram/@taylorswift)
Tuesday’s advance sale was the largest amount of tickets sold on the platform in a single day, according to a statement from Ticketmaster.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating whether Ticketmaster’s parent, Live Nation Entertainment, had abused its power over the multibillion-dollar live music industry.
The investigation began before this week’s mis-selling of tickets for Swift’s tour, the Times said Friday, citing unnamed sources.
‘Excruciating’ to watch mistakes happen, Swift says
On Instagram, the pop star said she has trust issues when it comes to her fans’ experiences, trying to keep many elements of her career at home.
“It’s very difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and it’s excruciating just to watch them make mistakes with no recourse,” he said.
In addition to Tuesday’s nightmare, Ticketmaster cited “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet this demand” as a reason for suspending Friday’s sale.
Due to unusually high demands on the ticketing systems and insufficient ticket inventory remaining to meet this demand, tomorrow’s public sale of Taylor Swift | The Eras tour has been cancelled.
—@Ticketmaster
Fresh off one of the biggest album releases of her career, Swift announced earlier this month that she would be launching a new US stadium tour, with international dates to follow.
Fans who received a special code after registering had exclusive access to purchase tickets on Tuesday. Those who did not get tickets were placed on a waiting list.
The 52-date first leg of The Eras Tour kicks off March 17th in Glendale, Arizona, and wraps up with five shows in Los Angeles ending August 9th.
Swift said international dates will be announced as soon as they can.