New York
CNN
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Millions of angry Taylor Swift fans have not received tickets for the artist’s latest tour after a widely scrutinized debacle over failed ticket sales. But ticketing giant Ticketmaster announced on Monday that a select group of fans could eventually receive tickets.
The lucky bunch are among the fans who signed up as “verified”. They were notified via email on Monday and will receive their individual invitation to submit their purchase request by Dec. 23, according to a message from Ticketmaster. Invitations will be staggered according to tour dates in different cities.
“You have been tagged as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets,” the email reads. “We apologize for any difficulties you may have encountered and the Taylor team has asked us to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets.”
Pre-sale tickets for “The Eras Tour” have frustrated Swift fans across the country in a debacle that has dominated headlines for weeks. In November, “verified fans” received a pre-sale code – but when sales started, high demand rumbled through the website and millions of Swifties couldn’t get their hands on a ticket. Pre-sale tickets for Capital One cardholders caused similar frustration – then Ticketmaster canceled sales to the general public, citing “extraordinarily high demand” and “insufficient remaining ticket supply”.
Ticketmaster on Monday explained the process for getting a second chance at tickets: Fans will receive a summary of their purchase and an email after the request window closes. to let them know if their request has been confirmed. Once the fan’s request is confirmed, their card will be charged and they will receive instructions on how to claim the tickets.
Although tickets are not guaranteed, Ticketmaster said it will do its “best efforts” to provide verified fans with an additional option to obtain tickets if the particular price range requested by the fan is not available.
Swift spoke out earlier this month in a heartfelt post about ticketing ‘mistakes’, writing on Instagram that there were a ‘multitude of reasons people had such a hard time’ getting tickets, and said the experience was ‘excruciating’ to watch.
In a blog post that has since been deleted, Ticketmaster said its “Verified Fans” system, a mechanism to weed out bots by giving presale codes to individuals, could not keep up with the intense demand. About 3.5 million people have signed up for the program to buy Swift tickets, its “biggest record in history”. This unprecedented demand, combined with a “staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who did not have invite codes”, generated “unprecedented traffic” on its site, Ticketmaster said, and l basically broke.
Ticketmaster apologized to Swift and her fans for the “terrible experience” some had trying to purchase tickets and said it would work to “strengthen our technology for the new bar that has been established on demand. for Swift’s tour.
The ticketing debacle has angered several lawmakers, including Senator Amy Klobuchar, head of the Senate antitrust subcommittee, who wrote an open letter to the CEO of Ticketmaster, saying she had “serious concerns” about the business operations.
And in a letter to Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino earlier this month, the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded a briefing on what went wrong and what action the company takes to solve problems.
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 on the concert market, including buying tickets.
Live Nation responded in a statement posted on its website, saying it “takes its responsibilities under antitrust laws seriously” and “does not engage in behavior that could warrant antitrust litigation, let alone injunctions.” that would require it to change fundamental business practices”.
– CNN’s Frank Pallotta and Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.
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