It’s been a hell of a ride for Taylor Swift fans in their efforts to buy tickets to the singer’s highly anticipated sixth stadium tour, The Eras Tour. Ever since Swift made the announcement on Nov. 1, her fan base, known as Swifties, have clamored to grab tickets before they sold out.
That involved presale tickets through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program, a way for hard-core fans to sign up for early access and get seats before, say, the scalpers. That endeavor was pockmarked with travesty as Ticketmaster continued to crash both at the onset of the presale sign-up and when presale tickets went on sale on Nov. 15.
Such catastrophes resulted in Swifties calling on the United States Department of Justice to disband Ticketmaster for being a monopoly and has since incited ongoing discussions from politicians like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Representative David N. Cicilline from Rhode Island, Tennessee’s Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, and even President Joe Biden a la the Federal Trade Commission, although he did not mention Ticketmaster directly.
Needless to say, nobody likes Ticketmaster right now, especially not Taylor Swift fans. To make matters worse, in a turn of events no one could’ve predicted, the ticket distribution company announced on Nov. 17 that it was cancelling The Eras Tour ticket sales due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”
Swifties swiftly began sharpening their pitchforks, begging Taylor to sue Ticketmaster. What do you mean cancelled? As in, there aren’t any more tickets? As in, they all sold out just from the presale alone? As in, the scalpers took them all? Someone, please explain!
Can you still buy tickets for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour, and if so, how?
At this time there is no other way to buy tickets to The Eras Tour without paying an absorbent amount of money for resale tickets from sites like Stubhub or SeatGeek, both of which don’t even have available tickets at the time of this writing.
If you’re wondering how this is possible, it’s because Ticketmaster became a monopoly when it merged with its competitor Live Nation in 2010, resulting in a chokehold on ticket sales for every major national and international concert tour.
Before you hang your head in despair, know that this conundrum has caught the attention of several higher-ups in the government. We may soon see action taken against Ticketmaster or even action taken by Taylor Swift to solve the problem. A petition has been making its way around the internet ever since The Eras Tour debacle, created by More Perfect Union to break up Ticketmaster. Currently, it is well on its way to its goal of 30,000 signatures, and will likely soar beyond those numbers now that enraged Swifties are looking to turn their anger into action.
This is a developing story. We Got This Covered will keep you updated with new information about Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour, and Ticketmaster as it unfolds. Stay tuned.