Ticketmaster Cancels Public Sale For Taylor Swift ‘Eras’ Tour Amid Historically High Demand

Topline

Ticketmaster said Thursday it was canceling the general admissions sale of tickets for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras” tour, after the site crashed earlier this week during pre-sale events because of “historically unprecedented” demand.

Key Facts

In a tweet, Ticketmaster said Friday’s public on-sale event was canceled due to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”

Earlier on Thursday, Live Nation chairman Greg Maffei said 14 million users tried to get tickets on Tuesday’s pre-sale event, which was only allotted for 1.5 million “verified” fans, and 2 million tickets have been sold for the North American tour, which has roughly 50 events scheduled.

After fans had issues with long wait times and site crashes during Tuesday’s pre-sale event, Ticketmaster said it experienced “historically unprecedented” demand on its platform.

It’s not clear how the remaining tickets will be sold, or how many are left.

Swift has not publicly commented on the issue yet, despite “Eras” being the largest tour of her career and her first since 2018, and Forbes has reached out to her representative for comment.

Key Background

“The Eras” tour was announced shortly after the release of Swift’s new album, Midnights, which earned her the biggest debut of her career. Songs from the album took up the entire top 10 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart in its debut week, making Swift the first artist ever to accomplish that feat. Swift has not toured since 2018, when she put on the “Reputations tour,” which broke a sales record in North America. Before Tickets went on sale, Swift added over a dozen shows to the lineup amid high demand. Tickets were first offered Tuesday through pre-sale on Ticketmaster, through the site’s “verified fan” program, which allows select consumers to purchase tickets ahead of time. Other pre-sale events, like for Capital One cardholders (the tour’s sponsor), were postponed in response. Some politicians, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), have since raised antitrust concerns about Live Nation and Ticketmaster. “Eras” tickets were selling for as much as $28,000 on the resale market, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Big Number

Six. That’s how many albums Swift has released since she last toured. Four of those—Lover, Folklore, Evermore and Midnights—were new works. The final two—Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version)—are re-recordings of old works, something Swift is doing to regain ownership of her masters.

Further Reading

14 Million People Tried To Buy Taylor Swift Pre-Sale Tickets, Live Nation Chair Says (Forbes)

Demand For Taylor Swift Tickets ‘Historically Unprecedented,’ Ticketmaster Says (Forbes)

Klobuchar Slams Live Nation After Taylor Swift Chaos—As New Congress Threatens Future Of Antitrust Legislation (Forbes)