Taylor Swift fans wonder why messages saying they would be prioritized in ticket-buying lines gave them “sweet nothing” when trying to buy tickets for Swift’s in-demand “The Eras Tour.”
The tour is making headlines for causing crashes and delays in Ticketmaster’s verified fan presale system due to overwhelming demand. After selling over 2 million tickets during the Nov. 15. presale alone, Ticketmaster cancelled the tour’s general onsale scheduled three days later.
After registering for Ticketmaster’s TaylorSwiftTix verified fan presale, some fans received an email from Swift’s team, Taylor Nation, offering line boosts, or priority access, in the presale’s waiting queues. The boosts link to fans buying music and merchandise from Swift’s online store.
The email quotes, “As a thank you for your contribution to a historic week (The release week of Swift’s new album, Midnights), we’d like to boost your place in line for the Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour TaylorSwiftTix Presale powered by Verified Fan.”
Fans who received this email claim that they were not given priority in queue lines when the presale opened on Nov. 15., despite implications that they would.
One fan, Tatiana Dias, received the Taylor Nation email. After getting kicked out of the queue multiple times, by the time she made it into the buying section for a Pittsburgh show, there were no tickets available. Her wife, who used a new Ticketmaster account that did not receive a Taylor Nation email, managed to get into the sale about twice as fast.
“I think that the idea was that you would get to the front of the queue first, but for whatever reason Ticketmaster just didn’t execute it,” Dias commented.
Fellow fan Julia Campbell shared similar experiences while attempting to buy tickets for one of Swift’s New Jersey shows. Despite receiving the verified fan code, Campbell recalled, “there weren’t any seats yet” by the time she could view tickets.
Campbell added, “There was definitely no line boost (in the verified fan queue). From what I’ve been hearing, anyone that was supposed to have these boosts did not get tickets.”
Fans on Twitter who have received Taylor Nation emails noted similar issues when trying to buy tickets.
THIS IS SO SICK. I DIDNT REFRESH OR ANYTHING AND IT GOT TO MY TURN AND TICKET MASTER KICKED ME OUT AND GAVE ME A NEW QUEUE ID AND PUT ME AT THE BACK. I AM A REAL FAN AND YOU’RE ALLOWING RESELLERS INTO THE PRESALE. I HAD A BOOST TOO!? @Ticketmaster @TMFanSupport pic.twitter.com/GRNv43Sxbs
— little old em ???????? (@justtakeemhome) November 15, 2022
ticketmaster didn’t give people the boosts they were promised and after 5 hours of sitting in the queue, i got on to nearly everything being sold out. love being a verified fan pic.twitter.com/lMLLhoQV2c
— megan (@megandoc13) November 15, 2022
It makes no sense that I was not able to get tickets but my husband was. My Ticketmaster had the boost, I’ve been through the ticket buying process a million times, he has never bought concert tickets in his life and managed to get them on the first try. It’s not adding up.
— Jessica Parks ???????? (iso Indy Eras tickets) (@jessica_parks) November 17, 2022
Before the presale began, Ticketmaster stated on the presale registration page that previous ticket-holders of Swift’s cancelled “Lover Fest” concerts would receive “preferred access” in the ticket-buying process for the “Eras Tour.”
In addition to having a Taylor Nation email boost, Campbell also had tickets to “Lover Fest.”
She was not able to buy tickets.
had row 14 floor tickets for lover fest because i had verified status from rep tour… then was absolutely shut out from Eras Tour presale (with supposed boosts too) … just doesn’t add up ???? https://t.co/H6J2vLLpNz
— marie swift (@2busydancing89) November 16, 2022
Can you provide transparency as to how having LoverFest tickets was supposed to give priority for the Eras tour? I was unable to purchase tickets, and I know several others in the same situation. Why weren’t those boosts honored? @Ticketmaster @TMFanSupport pic.twitter.com/QRR5o2WpXK
— Ainsley (@ainsleymeg) November 19, 2022
Ticketmaster deleted the indicator that “Lover Fest” ticket-holders had preferred ticket access when the presale started.
Ticketmaster was not available to comment on the boost’s impact on the presale, but told INK, “Millions of fans registered for Taylor Swift’s Eras Verified Fan Presale, with demand more than twice the number of tickets available- then on top of that millions more showed up to try to buy. This caused some delays for fans, which we know is frustrating and we worked as quickly as possible to adjust some onsale times to manage the volume.”
Cat Zens can be reached on Twitter at twitter.com/catherinezens.
