More tickets, more problems as Ticketmaster has become a monopoly shutting out fans and frustrating artists. The recent Taylor Swift debacle has raised concern that Ticketmaster has no intention of fixing the ongoing issues they have created for thousands of people. 

In mid-November, Ticketmaster released tickets to Swift’s Era’s tour in an online presale.  Thousands of people logged on to take advantage of the sale.  As a result, the site crashed leaving people without tickets despite having entered their credit card information as if the sale would go through. When fans found out that the sale never went through, it was days later and there were no tickets available as Ticketmaster canceled the public sale. 

Ticketmaster, however, is not a new company.  It is the world’s largest distribution company for tickets, selling 500 million tickets per year for a variety of events. Ticketmaster has managed to make a name for itself, but the reliability and abuse of power of the infamous website has become questioned.  The notorious ticket seller previously blamed the lack of efficiency on it being Swift’s first tour in five years creating a high demand for the tickets.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) recently raised concerns about the legitimacy of Ticketmaster with recent problems encountered with their management of Swift’s ticket sales. Thousands of people relied on Ticketmaster to get these tickets but Ticketmaster could not handle the high demand. 

“The high fees, site disruptions and cancellations that customers experienced shows how Ticketmaster’s dominant market position means the company does not face any pressure to continually innovate and improve,” said Klobuchar during a congressional hearing investigating the Swift incident. 

Once the artist heard about the fiasco, she made a statement to the press.“It was excruciating to watch my fans struggle to secure tickets,” Swift stated, assuring her fans that they would be able to get their hands on these tickets. 

Junior Valerie Chandler, who relies on a wheelchair to get around after a car accident when she was 13, waited 5 plus hours in a queue for her only to find that all the wheelchair-accessible seats were sold out.  “I was obviously upset,” Chandler explained. “It could have been better handled with either more people working in order to troubleshoot or for them to have concrete numbers of people who were sent presale codes so the website and tickets available could match.”

Chandler’s mother, Katie, also expressed her disappointment over the ordeal. “This was just another reminder to her that [she’s] in a wheelchair, and because of that, [she doesn’t] have equal access to a ticket in this case.” 

As a result, Chandler’s mother posted a letter on Facebook addressed to Swift and described all of the struggles her daughter has overcome over the years and how she wants to give her daughter an unforgettable experience. The Facebook post went viral soon after it was posted and was shared over 2,000 times by people all over the world. One of the many strangers who shared the post bought Chandler tickets to go to the concert. In April, Chandler will have the opportunity to be in Tampa and experience the show she did not think she was going to watch. 

Swift’s tour isn’t the only artist whose fans faced a foul-up.  Country star Zach Bryan has also had numerous bad encounters with Ticketmaster, and on Christmas Eve, vowed to find a way to keep ticket costs low for his fans and easy to obtain. 

“I’m fully aware of the Ticketmaster and Live Nation relationship,” Bryan said in a November tweet. “All my decisions — moving forward — will reflect this and until there is a serious change in the system all my homies will continue to hate Ticketmaster. Last thing I say on the matter. Sorry for being annoying.” 

 After another statement on Christmas Eve, the Grammy nominated singer simultaneously released an album titled “All my homies hate Ticketmaster” to give his final words and thoughts about the company.

In November, following the mishap, Ticketmaster released an apology: “We strive to make ticket buying as easy as possible for fans, but that hasn’t been the case for many people trying to buy tickets for Taylor Swift ‘The Eras’ Tour. First, we want to apologize to Taylor and all of her fans – especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets.”

With the public sale of tickets for Swift being canceled, tickets can be purchased in presale by Capital One credit card holders.