Taylor Swift tour ticket sales cancelled by Ticketmaster due to ‘extraordinarily high demands’
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Ticketmaster has cancelled ticket sales for the US leg of Taylor Swift’s tour after not being able to meet the “extraordinarily high demands”.
General ticket sales for the singer’s Eras Tour, her first in five years, were set to open on Friday morning (November 18), but Ticketmaster tweeted on Thursday evening that their insufficient remaining ticket inventory couldn’t meet demand.
In a statement on Thursday, Ticketmaster said that a record 3.5 million people had registered as verified fans.
The company had planned to invite 1.5 million of them to participate in the sale for all 52 show dates, including the 47 sold by Ticketmaster.
The other two million would be placed on a waiting list.
Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 17, 2022
However, due to attacks by "bots" - automated software requests - and demand from those who had not previously registered, the system was forced to shut down.
“The staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have invite codes drove unprecedented traffic on our site...” Ticketmaster said.
"Never before has a Verified Fan on sale sparked so much attention - or uninvited volume.”
The decision comes just days after the presale for the tour caused the site to crash, leaving fans disappointed.
The ticket company had previously pleaded with fans via their Twitter account to be patient as “millions” tried to buy tickets in the presale, causing “historically unprecedented demand”.
Fans have slammed the company for being ill-prepared during the presales for the tour, which opened on Tuesday.
They complained about waiting in online queues for up to eight hours, for tickets which cost between £41 and £377 each.
Ticketmaster, which dominates the ticketing industry, regularly leaves fans and artists frustrated by hidden fees, soaring costs, and limited ticket availability due to presales.
Taylor Swift - In pictures
Swift, who recently bagged four top gongs at the MTV Europe Music Awards, has not publicly commented on the matter. She will kick off her tour on March 18, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, which ends in August.
Her latest album Midnights, released in October, had the biggest first week of album sales since Adele’s 30 was released last November.
It also was the most streamed album of the year in its opening week, with 72.5 million streams across the seven days.
