Taylor Swift performs on Saturday, November 13, 2021 Credit – Photo By: WillHeath/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Taylor Swift is going on tour for the first time since 2018. In that time, theglobal superstar has released four albums: Foliage , Folklore ,__Evermore , and midnights along with two re-releases of her pastprojects: Fearless (Taylor ‘s Version) and Red (Taylor ‘s Version), eachfeaturing new songs “from the vault.” So when Swift announced “The Eras Tour”in November, set to kick off in 2023 and highlight the distinct sounds acrossher discography, the race to get tickets began.
But Swifties looking to attend the stadium tour are having major problemssecuring tickets due in large part to a system from Ticketmaster. CalledVerified Fan, the system was implemented to prevent scalper bots from buyingup an already limited amount of tickets and reselling them. As Swift and otherartists like Bruce Springsteen, Paramore, and Blink-182 plan tours for 2023,the limited number of tickets available through Verified Fan has resulted insoaring prices and rising anxiety among prospective concertgoers.
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Per Ticketmaster, Verified Fan has been able to combat resellers creatingskyrocketing prices after presales. “For big events, more than 30 percent oftickets might end up being resold,” Ticketmaster executive president DavidMarcus told POPSUGAR. “But with [Harry Styles’s 2017] tour, we saw less thanfive percent of tickets being resold for the shows, and that’s a hugeimprovement.”
Tickets for the Eras tour went on presale Nov. 15, and the Ticketmasterwebsite crashed 30 minutes before the sale was supposed to go live.
Here’s why fans are so frustrated with Ticketmaster and some of the ways thatSwifties can attempt to grab tickets.
What is a verified fan?
In 2017, Ticketmaster introduced Verified Fan, a program that requires usersto input their personal information within a registration window. Beforetickets go on sale, verified fans will get a notification telling them whetherthey’ve beenselectedto get access to a presale code or whether they werewaitlisted.Anyone buying tickets for a major artist knows that getting access to thepresale is the best chance to get good seats and avoid steep prices at thehands of resellers.
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Read more: Why Everyone ‘s Mad at Ticketmaster Right Now
But since its implementation, ticket buyers have noted issues with VerifiedFan, saying they have not been able to get tickets to the shows they want toattend.
Why has Verified Fan been causing a problem for concertgoers?
Many fans are not able to get verified. According to Ticketmaster, VerifiedFan is supposed to combat the ever-growing number of bots on the site that buyup large quantities of tickets and then resell them for high prices. Thecompany claims in a statement that artists are losing money to resellers “whohave no investment in the event going well or any of the people working behindthe scenes to bring the event to life.” They continue, “As such, EventOrganizers have looked to market-based pricing to recapture that lostrevenue.”
Although the new system was meant to make the ticket-buying process morestreamlined, many fans are saying they are not able to get verified and can’tget tickets to the presale. They either have to find tickets from resellers orjust not go at all.
The problem has the attention of national politicians including President JoeBiden and New Jersey Rep. Bill Pascrell, who have spoken out in support ofcustomers. In a letter to Live Nation, Ticketmaster’s parent company, Pascrelldemanded the company be more transparent on “the sale, pricing, anddistribution of live-event tickets.”
“The verified pre-sale of tickets each morning has caused high levels ofstress and frustration for our constituents as they see tickets disappear fromthe primary marketplace website as if purchased, only to reappear at higherprices,” his wrote.
Biden promised that he would be going after “hidden junk fees” thatTicketmaster adds to a buyer’s purchase.
What is your best chance of snagging a ticket?
Along with waiting to see if you’re one of the few chosen to be given thecoveted Verified Fan presale code, Capital One cardholders (debit or credit)had the opportunity to provide the first six digits of their card number byNov. 9 in order to be immediately granted access to an exclusive verifiedpresale starting Nov. 15 to Nov. 17.
If you didn’t sign up for the presale or don’t have a Capital One card, youcan wait in the ticketing line queue the day of the general sale or purchasetickets from secondary markets where the prices may be higher than onTicketmaster.
The general sale begins on Friday, Nov. 18. Other than that, you’re on your