Basically every person in the country logged onto Ticketmaster on Tuesday in an attempt to score Taylor Swift Eras tour tickets. This, unsurprisingly, resulted in the event website crashing, to the great rage of thousands.
According to the Guardian, Ticketmaster's response was to claim there had been "historically unprecedented demand," which resulted in "intermittent issues" that they were "urgently" trying to fix.
The publication also reports that fans waited for as long as eight hours, with many not succeeding in buying tickets.
Despite efforts to avoid this, tickets are apparently available on resale sites for up to $22,700. (For scale, that's half the average car.)
Social media users are losing their minds over the whole affair, and have resorted to humor as a way to cope.
One fan wrote, "My favourite part of the day was Ticketmaster asking me if I wanted to add a vinyl to my $1300 purchase"
My favourite part of the day was Ticketmaster asking me if I wanted to add a vinyl to my $1300 purchaseNovember 15, 2022
Another said, "Being stuck in the ticketmaster queue really has you wondering how different your life you be if you never listened to Our Song on the radio in 2006 that one time"
Being stuck in the ticketmaster queue really has you wondering how different your life you be if you never listened to Our Song on the radio in 2006 that one timeNovember 15, 2022
Someone else mused, "8 billion people in the world and every single one of them is ahead of me in the taylor swift ticketmaster queue apparently"
8 billion people in the world and every single one of them is ahead of me in the taylor swift ticketmaster queue apparentlyNovember 15, 2022
Someone else wisely pointed out, "ticketmaster is like 'we’re sorry about all the technical problems, this demand was unexpected' as if taylor swift isn’t one of the biggest artists in the galaxy"
ticketmaster is like “we’re sorry about all the technical problems, this demand was unexpected” as if taylor swift isn’t one of the biggest artists in the galaxyNovember 15, 2022
More seriously, others pointed out that there might be a political issue at play here—starting with congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who wrote, "Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in.
"Break them up."
Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with LiveNation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up.November 15, 2022
Commenting on this, someone quipped, "You couldn't get tickets either huh?"
Culture writer Elamin Abdelmahmoud said, "Swifties being radicalized against monopolies and getting ready to do some anti-trust lobbying good luck ticketmaster"
Swifties being radicalized against monopolies and getting ready to do some anti-trust lobbying good luck ticketmasterNovember 15, 2022
And another fan asked the important question: "what is joe biden’s plan to unpause the ticketmaster queue for taylor swift’s eras tour"
We'll all be waiting to hear back from the White House.
what is joe biden’s plan to unpause the ticketmaster queue for taylor swift’s eras tourNovember 15, 2022
