Taylor Swift and Live Nation discuss Ticketmaster pre-sale issues

Taylor Swift and Live Nation Entertainment, which owns Ticketmaster, have voiced their opinion on the ticketing platform’s failure to keep up with the demand for tickets during last week’s pre-sales. 

Tickets for Swift’s ‘The Eras’ tour went on sale last week with millions of fans attempting to secure a seat. The enormous demand subsequently caused Ticketmaster’s systems to crash, leaving many fans waiting for hours and eventually coming away empty-handed. 

Ticketmaster subsequently cancelled the general on-sale of tickets for the 52-date US tour. 

Shares in the live entertainment giant fell on Friday following reports that the US Department of Justice was looking into complains over Ticketmaster’s issues with the pre-sale. According to a report from Variety, Live Nation saw its shares drop nearly 8%.

Swift commented on the situation via her Instagram and said that she was upset that her fans had such difficulties securing tickets. 

She said: “I’ve brought so many elements of my career in-house. I’ve done this specifically to improve the quality of my fans’ experience by doing it myself with my team who care as much about my fans as I do.

“It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse.”

Live Nation came to the defence of Ticketmaster in a long statement and said: “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. The market is increasingly competitive nonetheless, with rivals making aggressive offers to venues.

“That Ticketmaster continues to be the leader in such an environment is a testament to the platform and those who operate it, not to any anticompetitive business practices. Five years ago tickets were paper, now you scan in with your phone, and can transfer tickets to your friend with one tap. We innovate and invest in our technology more than any other ticketing company, and we will continue to do so.”