‘Historically Unprecedented Demand’: Taylor Swift Fans Caused Ticketmaster’s Site To Crash Over 5000 Times
Taylor Swift may sing “I’m the problem, it’s me,” but her rabid fans have a real problem with Ticketmaster.
Pre-sales for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” went on sale this morning in select cities, causing the Ticketmaster’s website to crash over 5000 times before 2 pm, according to Downdetector.com.
when you’re trying to get taylor swift tix but ticketmaster keeps crashing pic.twitter.com/FOSdMrIP2Y
— Meg (@mplevz) November 15, 2022
Ticketmaster initially denied it had any trouble with its site, telling CNN, “the site is not down” and “people are actively purchasing tickets.”
But later in the afternoon, the ticket-selling giant admitted to being overwhelmed by the Taylor Swift ticket tsunami. In a statement on Twitter, Ticketmaster said that “there has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up to buy tickets for TaylorSwiftTix presale.”
— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 15, 2022
Ticketmaster asked ticket buyers, many trapped in hours-long queues, to “please hang tight,” causing some bad blood with the fans.
8 billion people in the world and every single one of them is ahead of me in the taylor swift ticketmaster queue apparently
— shawty lynn ? (@HereComesShawty) November 15, 2022
Even politicians piled on.
In an apparent dig at Ticketmaster, White House Chief of Staff Ronald Klain boasted that even the government’s loan forgiveness site was superior.
Over my years in the public and private sectors, I’ve had people tell me: If only the government could work like business.
Well, the team at @USEdgov and @USDS built a Student Loan Forgiveness portal that processed 8 MILLION applications in the first 30 hours without a crash. https://t.co/VaaoTMVycg
— Ronald Klain (@WHCOS) November 15, 2022
Ticketmaster makes changes
By late afternoon, Ticketmaster responded to the onslaught, moving its West Coast sales in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Santa Clara, and Seattle, originally scheduled for 10 am PT, to 3 pm PT.
It also moved the Capital One presale from Tuesday to Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 2 pm local time.
The U.S. portion of “The Eras Tour” begins March 18 at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and wraps August 5 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
I’m enchanted to announce my next tour: Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour, a journey through the musical eras of my career (past & present!) The first leg of the tour will be in stadiums across the US, with international dates to be announced as soon as we can!https://t.co/KFuqvrhSGo pic.twitter.com/eVyTcuW8sK
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) November 1, 2022
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/439239