Live Nation CFO says ’23 is off to ‘raging start’
Live Nation’s “raging” start to 2023, the Department of Justice’s reported antitrust investigation and lessons learned from the Taylor Swift onsale were detailed in a new interview with the promoting giant’s president/CFO Joe Berchtold.
Speaking yesterday (8 March) at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference, Berchtold said the company had defied projections with its performance in the opening months of the year.
“’23 is off to a raging start,” he said. “Investors, even more so, thought we were top-ticking in ’22 and it was going to be impossible to match, and that is simply not the case. Ticket sales are up over 20% for concerts this year. Ticketmaster GTV is up 33%, which just shows that all live events, not just concerts, continue to be strong on a global basis.”
Berchtold indicated that one of the more pleasing aspects was that the success was not limited to a small number of big tours.
“The demand is very broad, very deep,” he said. “Last week, Ticketmaster sold over six million tickets, which we’ve done many times before. But what was interesting is that no single artist accounted for over 150,000 tickets. It wasn’t a big onsale week, and that just demonstrates the breadth of the demand. It’s not just the Beyoncés that are selling all of these tickets, we’re seeing very broad demand across all marketplaces – and across all artist levels – continue to be very strong.”
“The high end is continuing to move very strongly and artists are continuing to look to adopt platinum tickets to capture more of the value”
Berchtold, who appeared before a US Senate antitrust panel in January, spurred by the fallout from the presale for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, explained how the lessons learned helped ensure the subsequent onsale for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour was carried out smoothly.
“First of all, there have been a lot of successful onsales,” he said. “Beyoncé, yes. But Morgan Wallen, Garth Brooks, Madonna and a host of others I’m forgetting that have gone very well. These don’t get the publicity around the ones that go well.
“The Taylor Swift thing, it was our fault in that we said we could do more than ultimately we could deliver, full stop. So that’s on us. When she increased the number of shows in response to the number of Verified Fans to help somewhat counterbalance the supply-demand imbalance, we said that we could pull off still doing that in one day. And the problem was is when we were attacked [by bots] that morning, we had no time to respond and fix that.
“Really, the only difference of substance with the Beyoncé onsale is that we spread it out over more time. We still had bot attempts and other things, but because we had it spread out over a much longer period, we were able to fix that and have a minimal number of shows get impacted because of it.”
In addition, Berchtold said that Ticketmaster had sold more than twice as many market-based platinum tickets than at the same point last year.
“The high end is continuing to move very strongly and artists are continuing to look to adopt platinum tickets to capture more of the value,” he said. “At the same time, artists are continuing to make sure to price the back of the house reasonably to make sure that everybody can afford to get a ticket.”
“We’re just on a journey to continue to educate and have people understand that the artists ultimately need to make money as well”
Berchtold noted that high-profile artists such as Bruce Springsteen speaking out in defence of the dynamic pricing model was a helpful shift.
“I think that every time an artist comes out and publicly says, ‘I’m a great performer and I should capture the value of my performance, not the scalper,’ then that’s helpful for other artists to be comfortable doing so,” he said. “We’re just on a journey to continue to educate and have people understand that the artists ultimately need to make money as well.”
Berchtold also alluded to the reported antitrust investigation into Ticketmaster by the DoJ, stating it could have a “chilling impact on their ability to do settlements ever again”, due to its previous settlements with LN in 2010 and 2019.
“We have a binding agreement with the DOJ as it relates to any perceived deeds in the past, much as you have individual settlements,” he said. “There has never been a situation where the DOJ has come and attempted to retrade a settlement. So a) there are legal questions about whether or not they could retrade a settlement. And b) it would have a chilling impact on their ability to ever do settlements again.
“The first barrier that you got to overcome is the fact we’ve actually had settlements. Two, is it seems to be, pick any random data path you want and it’s, ‘Ticketmaster’s a monopoly, therefore Live Nation-Ticketmaster should be broken up.'”
Berchtold said the assertion that Ticketmaster is a monopoly was not borne out by the facts.
“Market share has declined and more of the money has consistently gone to the venues, as opposed to Ticketmaster,” he said. “Neither of those things happens with a monopoly.
“Live Nation has, over this period, gone from 40 million fans to 120 million fans… And we’ve increased the amount of money we’ve paid to artists by billions of dollars, so we’ve dramatically expanded the marketplace. Again, not hallmarks of a monopoly. Certainly the margins aren’t the hallmark of a monopoly either. Now, we understand that doesn’t mean they’re not going to look and unfortunately, we don’t control the process or the timing of that process.”
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Female superstars lead 2023’s blockbuster tours
Female artists are leading the way on 2023’s touring circuit, with American superstars Beyoncé, Madonna, Pink and Lizzo joining Taylor Swift in scoring huge sales for blockbuster tours.
A raft of additional US stadium shows were confirmed for Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour – the singer’s first solo tour in seven years – after demand exceeded the number of originally available tickets by more than 800%. The run kicks off in Europe at Stockholm’s Friends Arena on 10 May, switching to to North America in July.
“Even with these added dates, it is still expected that the majority of interested fans will not be able to get tickets because demand drastically exceeds supply,” reads a Live Nation statement.
Following the Eras tour fallout, which prompted last month’s US Senate antitrust hearing, Ticketmaster tweaked the presale for the Renaissance tour in the US, dividing the Verified Fan registration period into three groups based on city.
More than three million people attempted to buy tickets for Beyoncé’s European dates, with her original two-night stand in London expanding to five at the 60,000-cap Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Extra nights were also added in cities such as Amsterdam, Stockholm and Warsaw.
“We experienced and successfully handled an extraordinary level of demand and traffic for Beyoncé”
While the BBC reported complaints of long queues and technical issues during the UK onsale, Ticketmaster declared the process a success.
“We experienced and successfully handled an extraordinary level of demand and traffic for Beyoncé,” says a Ticketmaster spokesperson. “While there were never going to be enough tickets to meet demand, thousands of happy fans secured their tickets.”
Live Nation France boss Angelo Gopee tells Le Parisien “the demand has been huge” for the star’s two French shows at the 60,000-cap Stade de France in Paris and 55,000-cap Orange Velodrome, Marseille. Tickets started at €85.
“Do not believe that because 270,000 people are [in the queue], we can sell 270,000 tickets and fill four stadiums,” says Gopee. Many come to see the prices, the location of the seats and leave. For Madonna, we had 120,000 fans waiting and we sold 60,000 tickets.”
“We had never experienced such demand since 2014,” adds Velodrome stadium director Martin d’Argenlieu.
Taylor Swift’s 52-date The Eras US tour remains the standard-bearer in terms of demand
Madonna’s 2023/24 The Celebration Tour – which marks the 40th anniversary of her breakout single Holiday – has been another smash hit, selling more than 600,000 tickets.
Produced by Live Nation, the global greatest hits tour will kick off in North America on 15 July at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, Canada. Madonna’s 2008-2009 Sticky and Sweet Tour is currently the highest-grossing tour by a female artist ever, raking in $411 million (£335m).
In addition, Pink’s first tour in four years, The Pink Summer Carnival, commences on 7 June with the first of two concerts at the University of Bolton Stadium and takes in stadiums and festivals around Europe, including two dates at the 65,000-cap BST Hyde Park in London. Making its way to North America in July, the run is due to conclude at Chase Field, Phoenix on 9 October.
And Lizzo’s The Special Tour got underway in the US last Autumn and arrived at European arenas in February, with a second North American leg slated from April to June.
Nevertheless, Taylor Swift’s 52-date The Eras US tour remains the standard-bearer in terms of demand, selling a record 2.4 million tickets in a single day.
“Despite all the challenges and the breakdowns, we did sell over two million tickets that day, we could have filled 900 stadiums.” said Live Nation chair Greg Maffei following the controversial presale last November.
Other acts playing stadium tours this year include Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Elton John, Coldplay, Rammstein, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Def Leppard + Motley Crue.
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Ticketmaster grilled by senators over Swift onsale
Live Nation’s Joe Berchtold has defended Ticketmaster’s practices in a US Senate antitrust panel spurred by the fallout from the presale for Taylor Swift’s stadium tour.
Swift shifted more than two million tickets – a new record for an artist in a single day – for her AEG-promoted 52-date The Eras Tour, but the sale was marred by reports of “significant service failures” and lengthy delays on Ticketmaster’s website, leading to today’s (24 January) near three-hour bipartisan panel investigating a “lack of competition in ticketing markets”.
In his opening statement, Berchtold, Live Nation’s president and CFO, said the firm had invested more than $1 billion to improve the Ticketmaster system since the companies’ 2010 merger.
“Much of this was on technologies to eliminate fraud and to get tickets to fans instead of ticket scalpers using bots, a prime example of which is our Verified Fan service,” he said.
“We hear people say that ticketing markets are less competitive today than they were at the time of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger [but] that’s simply not true… The Ticketmaster of 2010 did not face the level of competition that we face today… Ticketmaster has lost, not gained, market share since the merger.”
“There are problems in the ticketing industry. The recent onsale experience with Taylor Swift… has highlighted the need to address these issues urgently”
Berchtold moved on to address the Swift ticketing controversy from last November. The Eras Tour attracted “historically unprecedented demand” as 3.5m people pre-registered for Swift’s Verified Fan presale, 1.5m of whom were later invited to participate in the onsale. However, the Ticketmaster site struggled to cope with the traffic after being swamped by bot attacks. Seatgeek (which took on $238m in private equity investment in August) experienced similar technical issues ticketing five of the Swift dates.
“There are problems in the ticketing industry, problems we believe can and should be addressed through legislation,” he said. “Many are the direct result of industrial scale ticket scalping that goes on today – a $5bn industry and concerts alone in the United States, fuelled by practices that run counter to the interests of artists and their fans.”
He continued: “The recent onsale experience with Taylor Swift… has highlighted the need to address these issues urgently. We knew bots would attack that onsale and planned accordingly. We were then hit with three times the amount of bot traffic that we’d ever experienced. And for the first time in 400 Verified Fan onsales, they came after our Verified Fan password servers as well.
“While the bots failed to penetrate our systems or acquire any tickets, the attack requires to slow down and even pause our sales. This is what led to a terrible consumer experience, which we deeply regret. We apologise to the fans. We apologise to Miss Swift. We need to do better, and we will do better. Ticketmaster learned valuable lessons from this onsale.
“In hindsight, there are several things we could have done better. And let me be clear that Ticketmaster accepts its responsibility as being the first line of defence against bots in our industry. It’s an ever-escalating arms race. But in this forum where we’re here to discuss public policy, we also need to recognise how industrial scalpers using bots and cyber attacks to unfairly gain tickets has contributed to this awful experience.”
“We should mandate all-in pricing so that fans see the full cost of their tickets from the start”
Berchtold called for “categorical prohibitions” on “fraudulent ticket practices, including deceptive URLs”, along with spec-selling. “We should mandate all-in pricing so that fans see the full cost of their tickets from the start,” he added. “We share your goal of making live entertainment industry better for artist teams and fans alike.”
The panel also heard from witnesses including SeatGeek co-founder Jack Groetzinger, JAM Productions president Jerry Mickelson, singer/songwriter Clyde Lawrence, Sal Nuzzo, SVP of the The James Madison Institute, and Kathleen Bradish, the American Antitrust Institute’s VP for legal advocacy.
Asked directly whether they considered Ticketmaster to be a monopoly, Groetzinger, Mickelson and Nuzzo answered “yes”, and Bradish said the company was “certainly acting like a monopoly”, while Lawrence said, “I’m not sure.”
In response, Berchtold argued the ticketing business “has never been more competitive”. “We believe that fact is demonstrated by every venue renewal [having] multiple credible offers in a bidding process,” he noted.
The session was announced by Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee of the senate judiciary subcommittee on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights. Days earlier, Klobuchar had written an open letter to Live Nation chief Michael Rapino, expressing “serious concerns about the state of competition in the ticketing industry”.
“The solutions are there for the taking. Some of them are small things that can be done right away”
The letter came just weeks after a coalition of American consumer, artist and lobbying groups launched a Break Up Ticketmaster campaign, claiming that artists and venues are being exploited by the company. However, several industry commentators were quick to point out that unprecedented demand for Taylor Swift tickets had little to do with Ticketmaster’s relationship with Live Nation.
In her closing comments, Klobuchar suggested the strong turnout reflected people’s desire to see live concerts.
“We are very interested in actually doing something and not just throwing popcorn,” she added. “The solutions are there for the taking. Some of them are small things that can be done right away. Some of them are things that the Justice Department might order as either part of their oversight with the consent decree, or new investigations, or new outcomes – some of which have been discussed here. Some of them are things that we can do right here.
“Of course, we’re always going have some some disagreements… But there is general agreement on some of these ideas when it comes to pricing and transparency and the like.”
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170k Taylor tickets to be sold via Ticketstoday
Ticketmaster is set to sell the remaining 170,000 tickets for Taylor Swift’s The Eras US tour dates via Live Nation subsidiary Ticketstoday.
Ticketstoday, which was acquired by LN in 2008 and operates Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan Request platform, was initially set up for Dave Matthews Band’s fan club 20 years ago and has also been used by acts such as Phish and Ween.
A number of “Swifties” who had signed up to the Verified Fan scheme but were unsuccessful in the original sale were notified last week that they would be given a second chance at tickets for the 2023 stadium dates.
“You were identified as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets,” read a note from Ticketmaster. “We apologise for the difficulties you may have experienced, and have been asked by Taylor’s team to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets.
Billboard reports that fans will be invited to select which tickets they’d like to purchase, with successful applicants being determined by a digital lottery. Sales will be limited to two tickets per person and the process is expected to be completed by 23 December.
The tour is reportedly on course to gross $591 million in the US, which would represent a new record for a female artist
The move comes after Swift shifted a record 2.4 million tickets for her AEG-promoted 52-date tour in a single day last month. The sale was marred by reports of “significant service failures” due to “historically unprecedented demand” as 3.5m people pre-registered for the Verified Fan presale, 1.5m of whom were later invited to participate in the onsale.
Billboard notes the tour is on course to gross $591 million in the US, which would represent a new record for a female artist.
The 33-year-old will begin the run at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium on 17 March next year. The US leg currently comprises 52 dates and is due to wrap up with five nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles from 3-9 August. Ticket prices range from US$49 to $449, with VIP packages priced from $199 to $899.
The singer-songwriter had been due to embark on the Lover Fest tour in 2020 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led her to cancel a string of European festival dates, which were to include headline slots at the UK’s Glastonbury festival and BST Hyde Park, along with her first visits to Portugal (Nos Alive), Denmark (Roskilde) and Poland (Open’er).
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Taylor Swift fans get second chance to buy tickets
Some fans who were unable to buy tickets after signing up for the Verified Fan presale for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour have been notified they will be given a second chance.
A number of “Swifties” have been notified they will have an opportunity to participate in an upcoming sale for the singer-songwriter’s 2023 US stadium dates before 23 December, on a date and time to be confirmed.
“You were identified as a fan who received a boost during the Verified Fan presale but did not purchase tickets,” reads a note from Ticketmaster. “We apologise for the difficulties you may have experienced, and have been asked by Taylor’s team to create this additional opportunity for you to purchase tickets.
“Invitations will be staggered by tour dates in each city”
“All fans receiving this opportunity were notified via email on Monday, December 12. Notified fans will receive their individual invite to submit their purchase request prior to Friday, December 23. Invitations will be staggered by tour dates in each city.”
Swift shifted a record 2.4 million tickets for her AEG-promoted 52-date The Eras Tour in a single day last month, but the sale was marred by reports of “significant service failures” and lengthy delays on Ticketmaster’s website.
The tour experienced “historically unprecedented demand” as 3.5m people pre-registered for Swift’s Verified Fan presale, 1.5m of whom were later invited to participate in the onsale. However, the Ticketmaster site struggled to cope with the traffic after being swamped by bot attacks.
Ticketmaster went on to cancel the scheduled general sale, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand” and issued a public apology to Swift and her fans.
More than two dozen Swift fans launched a lawsuit against Ticketmaster owner Live Nation earlier this month over the controversial presale.
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Taylor Swift fans sue Ticketmaster
More than two dozen Taylor Swift fans are suing Ticketmaster owner Live Nation for “unlawful conduct”, alleging fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations over the controversial presale for the singer’s 2023 stadium tour.
Swift shifted a record 2.4 million tickets for her AEG-promoted 52-date The Eras Tour in a single day last month, but the sale was marred by reports of “significant service failures” and lengthy delays on Ticketmaster’s website.
Ticketmaster went on to cancel the scheduled general sale, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand” and issued a public apology to Swift and her fans.
Now, as part of a new lawsuit filed with the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles, the company is accused of “anticompetitive conduct… to impose higher prices on music concert attendees in the presale, sale and resale market”.
“Defendant’s anticompetitive behaviour has substantially harmed and will continue to substantially harm Taylor Swift fans,” says the 33-page filing on behalf of 26 plaintiffs.
“Global investment and financial services firm Citi last week upgraded its outlook for Live Nation”
The lawsuit is seeking $2,500 for each violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law. Jennifer Kinder, attorney for one of the complainants, tells the Washington Post that around 150 fans have expressed interest in being added to the suit since it was filed on Friday (2 December).
“They messed with the wrong fan base,” says Kinder.
The Eras Tour experienced “historically unprecedented demand” as 3.5m people pre-registered for Swift’s Verified Fan presale, 1.5m of whom were later invited to participate in the onsale. However, the Ticketmaster site struggled to cope with the traffic after being swamped by bot attacks. Seatgeek (which took on $238m in private equity investment in August) experienced similar technical issues ticketing five of the Swift dates.
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee announced last month that a US Senate antitrust panel would look into a “lack of competition in ticketing markets”, in response to the cancelled onsale. However, global investment and financial services firm Citi last week upgraded its outlook for Live Nation, saying it was unlikely to be split up as a result of the panel.
Live Nation has not responded to the lawsuit, but previously addressed competition concerns in a lengthy statement.
“Live Nation takes its responsibilities under the antitrust laws seriously and does not engage in behaviours that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices,” it said.
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Taylor Swift ticketing fallout continues
The fallout from the controversial presale for Taylor Swift’s 2023 stadium tour has escalated, with a US Senate antitrust panel set to look into a “lack of competition in ticketing markets”.
Senators Amy Klobuchar and Mike Lee of the senate judiciary subcommittee on competition policy, antitrust and consumer rights have announced the hearing – which will take place on a date to be confirmed – in response to last week’s cancelled onsale.
Swift shifted more than two million tickets – a new record for an artist in a single day – for her AEG-promoted 52-date The Eras Tour, but the sale was marred by reports of “significant service failures” and lengthy delays on Ticketmaster’s website.
“Last week, the competition problem in ticketing markets was made painfully obvious when Ticketmaster’s website failed hundreds of thousands of fans hoping to purchase concert tickets,” says Klobuchar. “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.
“This is a story about the status of Taylor Swift, not the status of Ticketmaster”
“That’s why we will hold a hearing on how consolidation in the live entertainment and ticketing industry harms customers and artists alike. When there is no competition to incentivise better services and fair prices, we all suffer the consequences.”
Days before the announcement, Klobuchar wrote an open letter to Live Nation chief Michael Rapino, expressing “serious concerns about the state of competition in the ticketing industry”. The letter came just weeks after a coalition of American consumer, artist and lobbying groups launched a Break Up Ticketmaster campaign, claiming that artists and venues are being exploited by the company.
Several industry commentators have been quick to point out that unprecedented demand for Taylor Swift tickets has little to do with Ticketmaster’s relationship with Live Nation. “This is a story about the status of Taylor Swift, not the status of Ticketmaster,” wrote Bob Lefsetz. “I wish everybody would STFU! There is no villain here. Just an incredibly successful pop star and a company that was caught off guard by demand.”
In his weekly Full Rate No Cap email, former Billboard editorial director Bill Werde wrote, “It’s pretty obvious that putting 52 dates on sale at once is an unnecessary stress to any tech platform,” adding that Swift’s team had been advised not to put all dates on sale at the same time, “But they wanted the big splash. End result? Her fans suffered.”
“We did sell over two million tickets that day, we could have filled 900 stadiums”
The Eras Tour attracted “historically unprecedented demand” as 3.5m people pre-registered for Swift’s Verified Fan presale, 1.5m of whom were later invited to participate in the onsale. However, the Ticketmaster site struggled to cope with the traffic after being swamped by bot attacks. Seatgeek (which took on $238m in private equity investment in August) experienced similar technical issues ticketing five of the Swift dates.
“The site was supposed to be opened up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans,” said Live Nation chair Greg Maffei. “We had 14 million people hit the site, including bots – another story – which are not supposed to be there. And despite all the challenges and the breakdowns, we did sell over two million tickets that day, we could have filled 900 stadiums.
“Interestingly, AEG our competitor, who is the promoter for Taylor Swift, chose to use us because we are in reality, the largest and most effective ticket seller in the world. Even our competitors want to come on our platform.”
However, in a rebuttal that may add fuel to the antitrust fire, AEG Presents yesterday told CNBC, “Ticketmaster’s exclusive deals with the vast majority of venues on The Eras Tour required us to ticket through their system…We didn’t have a choice.”
“We’re working to shore up our tech for the new bar that has been set by demand”
Ticketmaster has apologised to Swift and her fans, “especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets”.
“Historically, we’ve been able to manage huge volume coming into the site to shop for tickets, so those with Verified Fan codes have a smooth shopping process,” it said in a blog post. “However, this time the staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have codes drove unprecedented traffic on our site, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests – 4x our previous peak.
“We handle onsales for countless top tours, some of the biggest sporting events, and more. Never before has a Verified Fan onsale sparked so much attention – or traffic. This disrupted the predictability and reliability that is the hallmark of our Verified Fan platform.
“We’re always working to improve the ticket buying experience. Especially for high demand onsales, which continue to test new limits. We’re working to shore up our tech for the new bar that has been set by demand.”
Live Nation released a statement addressing competition concerns last weekend. “Live Nation takes its responsibilities under the antitrust laws seriously and does not engage in behaviours that could justify antitrust litigation, let alone orders that would require it to alter fundamental business practices,” it said.
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Taylor Swift tour sells 2m tickets in single day
Live Nation chair Greg Maffei says Taylor Swift “could have filled 900 stadiums” after selling more than two million tickets in the presale for her 2023 The Eras US tour.
Ticketmaster says the number of tickets sold for the 52-date tour has set a new record for an artist in a single day.
Maffei, who is CEO of Liberty Media, LN’s largest shareholder, tells CNBC that the promoter is “sympathetic” for the fans who missed out on tickets despite long wait times.
“The site was supposed to be opened up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans. We had 14 million people hit the site”
“Reality is, it’s a function of the massive demand that Taylor Swift has,” he says. “The site was supposed to be opened up for 1.5 million verified Taylor Swift fans. We had 14 million people hit the site, including bots – another story – which are not supposed to be there. And despite all the challenges and the breakdowns, we did sell over two million tickets that day, we could have filled 900 stadiums.”
Ticketmaster cancelled today’s general sale, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand”.
In a now deleted blog post, the company said a record 3.5m people pre-registered for Swift’s Verified Fan presale, 1.5m of whom were later invited to participate in the onsale, with the remaining 2m placed on a waiting list. It estimated “about 15% of interactions across the site” experienced issues.
“Every ticket was sold to a buyer with a Verified Fan code. Nobody (not even a bot) could join a queue without being verified”
“Historically, working with Verified Fan invite codes as we’ve been able to manage the volume coming into the site to shop for tickets,” it said. “However, this time the staggering number of bot attacks as well as fans who didn’t have invite codes drove unprecedented traffic on our site, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests – 4x our previous peak.
“Every ticket was sold to a buyer with a Verified Fan code. Nobody (not even a bot) could join a queue without being verified.”
Hitting back at criticism from American politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC), Maffei adds: “This is not actually a Live Nation promoted concert. Taylor Swift is promoted by one of our largest competitors. So though AOC may not like every element of our business, interestingly, AEG our competitor, who is the promoter for Taylor Swift, chose to use us because we are in reality, the largest and most effective ticket seller in the world. Even our competitors want to come on our platform.
“We sold two million tickets, the most we’ve ever sold in one day in history”
“I apologise to all our fans. We are working hard on this and, again, building capacity for peak demand is something we attempt to do, but this exceeded every expectation. And the reality is Taylor Swift hasn’t been on the road for three or four years and that’s caused a huge issue.”
Speaking at Liberty Media’s investor day, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino says: “We invited a million and a half on that day to come and buy those tickets, but it’s kind of like having a party. Everybody crashed that door at the same time with 3.5 billion requests.
“We sold two million tickets, the most we’ve ever sold in one day in history, and another million tickets of other artists on the same day. So although we regret it was a slowdown in some queues and some error codes for a short period for some fans, we did manage to recover.”
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‘Unprecedented demand’ for Taylor Swift tickets
Ticketmaster is reporting “historically unprecedented demand” for Taylor Swift’s 2023 Eras North American stadium tour.
The 32-year-old, who released her 10th studio album Midnights last month, will begin the run at Glendale’s State Farm Stadium on 17 March next year. The US leg currently comprises 52 dates and is due to wrap up with five nights at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles from 3-9 August.
Fans were able to sign up for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan programme to gain access to yesterday morning’s (15 November) presale.
Ticketmaster reportedly noted “intermittent issues with the site” as “millions” of people attempted to buy tickets, with West Coast onsales for LA, Las Vegas, Santa Clara and Seattle pushed back by five hours and a Capitol One presale rescheduled for today.
“There has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up to buy tickets”
“There has been historically unprecedented demand with millions showing up to buy tickets for the TaylorSwiftTix presale,” says a tweet by the company. “Hundreds of thousands of tickets have been sold. Thank you for your patience as we continue managing this huge demand.”
The general sale begins on Friday (18 November). Ticket prices range from US$49 to $449, with VIP packages priced from $199 to $899.
In the US, Eras is tipped to eclipse Swift’s 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour, which became the country’s highest-grossing tour in history, selling over two million tickets for 38 shows for a total of $266.1 million. Promoted by AEG’s Messina Touring Group and AEG Presents, the 53-date trek was the second highest-grossing worldwide tour of 2018 behind Ed Sheeran’s record-breaking Divide run, grossing $345.1m from 2,888.892 ticket sales, as per Pollstar‘s year-end rankings.
Swift’s 1989 arena tour was the highest-grossing globally of 2015, earning $250.4m worldwide.
The singer-songwriter had been due to embark on the Lover Fest tour in 2020 prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, which led her to cancel a string of European festival dates, which were to include headline slots at the UK’s Glastonbury festival and BST Hyde Park, along with her first visits to Portugal (Nos Alive), Denmark (Roskilde) and Poland (Open’er).
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Grammys double down on live after year of no concerts
Dua Lipa, Taylor Swift and Megan Thee Stallion delivered a handful of the 32 live or pre-recorded performances at the annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles last night (14 March).
The 63rd edition kicked off with three back-to-back performances from Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Haim, who performed in an in-the-round set-up, reminiscent of Later… with Jools Holland.
Eilish and her brother/producer Finneas performed her ethereal ballad ‘Everything I Wanted’, for which she took home Record of the Year, for the second consecutive year.
Megan Thee Stallion made her impressive debut at the Grammys, scooping three awards including Best New Artist, and delivering two performances that were ranked first and second place on Billboard’s performance review list.
The rapper first performed a medley of ‘Body’ and ‘Savage’ – the latter won her Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance along with Beyoncé, who featured on the recording – before joining Cardi B onstage for a live rendition of their chart-topping smash ‘WAP’.
Beyoncé also made her mark last night, becoming the most-awarded person in Grammys history with her 28th win
Beyoncé had an equally unforgettable night, becoming the most-awarded person in Grammys history with her 28th win for ‘Black Parade’. Bluegrass singer Alison Krauss previously held the title.
Taylor Swift also made history at Sunday’s ceremony, by becoming the first female artist ever to win album of the year three times.
Only three other artists have ever won the album of the year prize three times: Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon and Stevie Wonder.
The star was rewarded for her lockdown album ‘Folklore’, which she performed in part during last night’s ceremony with collaborators Aaron Dessner and Jack Antonoff.
‘Cardigan’, ‘August’ and ‘Willow’ all got an outing during Swift’s first Grammys performance in five years.
BTS, Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, Doja Cat, Post Malone and Lionel Richie also delivered performances at last night’s Grammys.
Last night’s award show was the first from executive producer Ben Winston, best known for turning James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke series into a viral hit. Winston is the first new producer since Ken Ehrlich took over the show in 1980.
The production’s Covid precautions included 6ft-compliant tables and chairs beneath an outdoor terrace, five separate stages at the Los Angeles Convention Center and widespread testing – all of which added millions to the show’s budget.
See a complete list of winners and nominees for the 2021 Grammys here.
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