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Though Taylor Swift fans are still seeing Red after Ticketmaster‘s botched ticket sale, the company is giving some Swifties a second chance to score tickets to the singer’s 2023 Eras Tour.
On Monday, Ticketmaster sent an email out to select fans informing them they will have a “limited opportunity” to purchase no more than two tickets each for one of Swift’s upcoming shows.
“You were selected for this opportunity because you have been identified as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets,” the email read.
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“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,” Ticketmaster continued.
Many fans took to Twitter to share screenshots of the email from Ticketmaster.
The new sale is in response to a fiasco which occurred during the original Swift tour ticket presale, when, after hours of waiting in oft-malfunctioning digital queues, the majority of fans were unable to purchase tickets. Immediately following the presale, scalpers were attempting to resell Swift tickets for up to US$28,000 ($37,430).
On Nov. 17, Ticketmaster cancelled the general sale for Swift’s U.S. Eras Tour “due to extraordinarily high demands” and “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”
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Ticketmaster used a “Verified Fan” presale to sell Swift tickets — a common practice for the company — that aims to limit the number of scalpers and bots buying tickets to popular shows by providing registered fans with a special ticket-buying code.
The company claimed more than 3.5 million people registered for the presale. In a statement, Ticketmaster wrote it sold more than two million tickets and fielded 3.5 billion system requests, which is four times its previous peak.
A group of Swift fans has since filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation, claiming the ticketing site engaged in “fraud, price-fixing, and antitrust violations.”
Swift herself also commented on the mismanaged ticket sale in November and said she and her team are working “to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward.”
She claimed it was “excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”
Taylor Swift posted a statement to her Instagram account about Ticketmaster’s sale cancellation on Nov. 17, 2022.
Instagram / @taylorswift
On Monday, Ticketmaster issued an apology on its website and said select fans will receive staggered invitations to purchase tickets based on tour dates in each city. All of the invitations will be sent prior to Dec. 23.
Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010, resulting in control of more than 70 per cent of the primary ticketing and live event venues market.
In November, the U.S. Justice Department launched an inquiry into whether Live Nation has abused its power in the multibillion-dollar live music industry. The investigation began before the Swift ticket sale outrage.
Live Nation denied any wrongdoing and claimed the company “takes its responsibilities under the antitrust laws seriously and does not engage in behaviours that could justify antitrust litigation.”
Ticketmaster echoed this sentiment in a statement. The company wrote: “Ticketmaster has a significant share of the primary ticketing services market because of the large gap that exists between the quality of the Ticketmaster system and the next best primary ticketing system.”
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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Sarah Do Couto
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