Botched, unfair, and demanding: those are the consuming feelings that fans felt when attempting to purchase tickets to Taylor Swift’s Era Tour on Ticketmaster. Millions of fans went on Ticketmaster to first apply for the presale and hopefully receive a code; however countless people did not receive a code which left many empty-handed once the website crashed during the presale. After the glitches affected customers’ purchases, members of Swift’s fanbase, the “Swifties,” filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster last Friday, accusing them of anticompetitive conduct and fraud. 

The process of purchasing tickets on Ticketmaster is unethical and not fair to die-hard music fans. 

When fans went on the website hoping to claim tickets in mid-November, millions of fans got their dreams crushed. From the beginning of the process, there was a negative aura surrounding the whole approach. At first, claiming a presale code was the goal, then making it through the waitlist was a toss-up, and lastly successfully checking out was a near dream. 

There were multiple people who had achieved making it through the checkout and only needed to hit “confirm” at the last step, but that chance was robbed by the glitches on Ticketmaster. Numerous TikToks circulated through the stream with people expressing their emotions over not receiving a presale code and hoping to get a ticket during the general admission sale. Once the website completely crashed, the opportunity was lost for people all across the world. 

Because of the draining process, the lucky fans that received tickets to the Era’s Tour ultimately felt guilty when successfully purchasing the tickets. Throughout the huge undertaking just getting a seat in the nose-bleeds was a fantasy. While waiting on the waitlist all day since 10 in the morning, the line barely crept up and at one point in the afternoon, the website had cleared all of the progress gained. 

People felt scammed, cheated, and robbed since everyone was on the same playing field no matter their commitment to Taylor. Ticketmaster also forced the Second Ticket Exchange to acquire fees and profits above what it could earn in a competitive market. Once the ticket sales went live, it was noticed thousands of fans that tickets had been resold for an abundance more. While hopeful fans prolonged to see their long-term idols perform, individuals were profiting off of innocent fans for uncalled amounts. 

Some might argue that this is the typical process to endure if you are a true fan. Although acquiring a concert ticket will forever be challenging no matter the artist, the way this website operated did not give everyone equal opportunity. There were no advantages for the long-term fans and top percentage listeners, instead, individuals are scamming people of their money for profit and people’s emotions are being drained and broken. For this situation to be resolved and prevented from happening in the future, a more fair process should be found banning the resale of tickets and more opportunities should be given to access tickets.