For the fans who are still determined to see Taylor Swift perform in her upcoming tour, patience might be what is key to fulfill their wildest dreams.
On Nov. 15 of 2022, the first presale for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets was released on Ticketmaster, and in just one day the tickets were sold out. 2.4 million tickets were sold, which, according to Ticketmaster, is the “most tickets ever sold for an artist in a single day.” Even though 2.4 million seems like a lot, that number is only 5% of all the people who actually wanted to get tickets.
Because tickets were sold out after the first presale was released, the general public who did not receive a presale code had no chance of accessing tickets. So, for the fans wondering why they did not get tickets, the real question is who is to blame?
Two days after tickets were sold out, Swift posted a statement on her Instagram story saying, “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.”
Ticketmaster acknowledged the high demand for tickets when they released their presale code to 1.5 million of the 3.5 million fans who registered for presale tickets. Nonetheless, when a drastic amount of bots and fans without presale codes tried accessing the presale tickets, it made it difficult for verified fans to enter the queue. This disruption also resulted in difficulty for the site to verify presale codes, therefore revealing the fault of the sell out.
Now, the fans who failed to get tickets and are still wanting to see Swift in concert must depend on websites like StubHub, SeatGeek and Vivid Seats to purchase tickets, which are selling for much higher prices than the original Ticketmaster prices. According to Josh Koebert from FinanceBuzz, his research proves that sometimes it is best to wait to buy tickets. His research analyzed data, showing that people attending concerts who purchased their tickets the day of a concert spent 33% less than average. Waiting could also be a risk because the tickets could sell out everywhere by the time the concerts roll around. People who managed to obtain tickets have also been reselling their tickets for much higher prices because of the great demand, making it difficult for Swift fans to find affordable tickets.
In the same statement posted on her Instagram, Swift stated, “to those who didn’t get tickets, all I can say is that my hope is to provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs.”
Swift has been fulfilling her hopes to provide more performances when she recently made a surprise appearance at a concert of 1975, an English pop rock band, in London on January 12th, 2023. Swift performed her song “Anti-Hero,” which remains No. 1 on Billboard Hot 100 and is Swift’s longest leading hit as it has been at the top of the chart for eight weeks now. Swift’s high status in the music industry explains exactly why her concerts are in such high demand. The late American broadcaster, Barbara Walters, once said it best, “Taylor Swift is the music industry,” and while the rest of the world catches up with her, fans can either hope to see her pop out for a surprise performance or hope to see prices calm down.