Ticketmaster trials NFT-gated pre-sale
Ticketmaster is partnering with metal band Avenged Sevenfold to offer fans NFT-gated pre-sale tickets to the band’s tour.
The trial will reportedly enable NFT holders from the band’s fan club — Death Bats Club — to integrate their crypto wallet with Ticketmaster in order to get priority access to tickets and reserved seating with no queues.
Singer Matt Sanders, an early advocate for NFTs and Web3, said on Twitter the NFT-gating would ensure “fans get the best tickets at the best prices without bots, scalpers and long wait times”.
Fans have already used the feature to purchase tickets for events at New York’s Madison Square Garden and The Forum in Los Angeles ahead of the general public. Now the initiative will go live for the rest of the dates available on Ticketmaster.
The band launched the Death Bats Club in 2021 — a collection of 10,000 NFTs with unique visual traits that unlock real-life perks such as care packages, meet-and-greet opportunities, and now early-access ticketing.
NFT-gating would ensure “fans get the best tickets at the best prices without bots, scalpers and long wait times”
“Ticketmaster has already issued more than 5 million NFTs as commemorative tokens for major events including the Super Bowl, but this is the first token-gated integration for purchasing tickets directly. Currently it is a pilot program but may roll out to more artists based on demand,” David Marcus, Ticketmaster’s executive VP of global music, told Billboard.
“Avenged Sevenfold used the capability to offer first access to tickets, but there are a variety of ways it can be used by artists in the future. From unlocking premier seats to special experiences like sitting in on soundcheck.
“Token-gated ticket sales are available as part of our expanding Web3 services and other features that help artists set their own terms on how tickets get to fans. Any artist who is minting their own NFTs or partnering with another independent community can explore with token-gated ticketing now.”
Ticketmaster’s token-gated sales are currently compatible with tokens minted on Ethereum and stored in dapp wallets, such as MetaMask or Coinbase.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
US senators introduce Junk Fee Prevention Act
US Senators have introduced new legislation which would eliminate “excessive” ticketing fees for concerts and other events.
Senators Richard Blumenthal and Sheldon Whitehouse have announced the “Junk Fee Prevention Act” following calls from president Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.
Biden argued that hidden or unexpected fees “are not only costly to consumers, but they can stifle competition by encouraging companies to use increasingly sophisticated tools to disguise the true price consumers face”.
If passed, the new legislation would eliminate “excessive, hidden, and unnecessary fees” imposed on consumers and “ensure transparency” in industries such as ticketing by requiring the full prices of services to be provided upfront.
“Concealed surprise fees – nickel and diming Americans to distraction – must be stopped,” says Blumenthal. “Airline travel, concert going, common purchases – seemingly almost everywhere – consumers are compelled to pay hidden excessive charges.
“Our bill will help end this price gouging – forcing full disclosure upfront and restricting abusive fees. It will mandate basic common sense fairness and transparency, which consumers rightly demand and deserve.”
“Our Junk Fee Prevention Act would provide consumers with the transparency they deserve when making a purchase”
“Consumers are charged hidden fees when purchasing everything from flights to concert tickets,” adds Whitehouse. “Our Junk Fee Prevention Act would provide consumers with the transparency they deserve when making a purchase.”
Live Nation has backed president Biden’s call for transparency around ticketing fees last year. The company went on to launch the Fair Ticketing Act last month and has received support from the likes of CAA, UTA, Wasserman Music and WME in its calls for ticketing reforms. Among its recommendations are for all-in pricing across all ticketing marketplaces introduced nationally so that fans know the full cost of a ticket plus fees right upfront.
Ticketing fees have been thrust under the microscope of late after The Cure persuaded Ticketmaster to offer partial refunds for “unduly high” ticketing fees charged in the Verified Fan sale for the band’s upcoming North American tour.
The firm had come in for criticism during this week’s sale when ticket-holders posted screenshots online showing some fees exceeding the cost of the tickets themselves.
Neil Young has also weighed in on the dispute, posting under the headline “concert touring is broken” on his website.
“It’s over, the old days are gone,” he writes. “I get letters blaming me for $30,000 tickets for a benefit I am doing. That money does not go to me or the benefit. Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers.
“Concert tours are no longer fun. Concert tours [are] not what they were.”
“Ticketmaster unilaterally decides which tickets it advertises and sells as ‘Official Platinum’ based on a given event”
Meanwhile, a class-action lawsuit has been launched against Ticketmaster in Canada, alleging the company “intentionally misleads consumers for their own financial gain”.
The case – filed by Montreal-based law firm LPC Avocat Inc – says a customer bought two market-driven “platinum” tickets for Drake’s upcoming 14 July show at the Bell Centre for C$789.54 (€533.70) each. However, it says that when Drake added a second show for the following night, the same seats could be purchased for more than $350 less.
As per the Toronto Star, the suit also claims that Ticketmaster knew Drake would be performing two shows at the venue, but “concealed this information” to “squeeze out” as much money as possible from fans buying tickets for the first date.
“Ticketmaster unilaterally decides which tickets it advertises and sells as ‘Official Platinum’ based on a given event,” reads the filing. “The result is that most, if not all, of the tickets advertised and sold as ‘Official Platinum’ are neither ‘premium tickets’ nor ‘some of the best seats in the house’ and are, in fact, just regular tickets sold by Ticketmaster at an artificially inflated premium in bad faith.”
Ticketmaster has not commented on the allegations.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
The Cure convince Ticketmaster to refund fees
The Cure have persuaded Ticketmaster to offer partial refunds for “unduly high” ticketing fees charged in the Verified Fan sale for the band’s upcoming North American tour.
The firm had come in for criticism during this week’s sale when ticket-holders posted screenshots online showing some fees exceeding the cost of the tickets themselves.
Ticket prices started at $20 (€18.80) as the group wanted the tour “to be affordable for all fans”, but the BBC cited examples such as one customer who bought four $20 tickets ended up paying $172,10 (€161.78), after service fees, a facility charge and an order processing fee were added.
Posting yesterday (16 March) on Twitter, The Cure’s frontman Robert Smith said he was “sickened” by the “debacle”. “To be very clear: the artist has no way to limit them,” he wrote. “I have been asking how they were justified. If I get anything coherent by way of answer I will let you all know.”
However, Smith later reported that, as a “gesture of goodwill”, Ticketmaster had agreed to offer refunds of $5-10.
“After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all Verified Fan accounts for lowest ticket price (‘LTP’) transactions, and a $5 per ticket refund to all Verified Fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions,” says Smith.
“For all Cure shows at all venues; if you already bought a ticket you will get an automatic refund; all tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees.”
“It’s about giving that power back to the artists, making sure they have the right to decide how their tickets are distributed and how their tickets are sold”
The legendary British band begin their first full-scale US and Canada run since 2016 at New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center on 10 May. The 30-date tour is due to wrap up at the Miami-Dade Arena in Miami on 1 July.
The group have made tickets for shows non transferable where possible, in an effort to clamp down on touting. In addition, they say that “apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no ‘platinum’ or ‘dynamically priced’ tickets” sold.
Last month, Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation launched the Fair Ticketing Act, which says that artists should decide resale rules and calls for industry-wide all-in pricing so fans see the full cost they are paying up front, and has been backed by live giants such as CAA, UTA, Wasserman Music and WME.
LN president and CFO Joe Berchtold discussed the push for ticketing reforms in an interview at Morgan Stanley’s Technology, Media and Telecom Conference last week.
“It’s about giving that power back to the artists, making sure they have the right to decide how their tickets are distributed and how their tickets are sold,” he said, “and a lot of common sense measures that we understand the scalpers are going to fight against because it goes to the heart of their ability to unfairly get tickets and get between the artist and the fan.
“We’re 100% confident that, as light is shined on this industry, it’s going to really demonstrate that we’ve been doing things on behalf of the artists and we’re continuing to fight in that vein – and I think, ultimately, that wins.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
The Cure move to stamp out touts on US tour
The Cure say tickets for their upcoming 30-date North American tour will be non transferable in an effort to clamp down on touting.
The legendary British band begin their first full-scale US and Canada run since 2016 at New Orleans’ Smoothie King Center on 10 May. The tour is due to wrap up at the Miami-Dade Arena in Miami on 1 July.
Fans had until today (13 March) to register with Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan scheme, with a “lottery-style process” to be used to determine which entrants will receive a unique access code or be put on the waitlist for the 15 March sale.
In addition, the band say that “apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no ‘platinum’ or ‘dynamically priced’ tickets” sold for the tour, with prices for certain dates reportedly starting as low as $21.25 (€20).
“We want the tour to be affordable for all fans and we have a very wide (and we think very fair) range of pricing at every show,” says a social media post by the group. “Our ticketing partners have agreed to help us stop scalpers from getting in the way. To help minimise resale and keep prices at face value, tickets for this tour will not be transferable.
“Despite our desire to protect our low ticket prices for fans, the states of NY, IL and CO make this very difficult – they actually have laws in place that protect scalpers!”
“If something comes up that prevents a fan from being able to use a ticket they have purchased, they will be able to resell it on a face value ticket exchange.”
The band advise, however, that laws in New York, Illinois and Colorado mean shows in those states will be exempt from the restrictions, but still encourage ticket-holders no longer able to attend to sell their tickets on face value resale sites.
“Unfortunately, despite our desire to protect our low ticket prices for fans, the states of NY, IL and CO make this very difficult – they actually have laws in place that protect scalpers,” adds the statement. “For shows in these states we urge fans to buy or sell tickets to one another on face value exchanges like Twickets.live or Cashortrade.org.
“Fans should avoid buying tickets that are being resold at inflated prices by scalpers, and the sites that host these scalpers should refrain from reselling tickets for our shows.”
Revisit IQ‘s in-depth feature on The Cure’s biggest-ever European tour here.
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Ticketmaster secures partnership with Eurovision
Ticketmaster has unveiled a partnership with the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, set to take place in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine.
The events at M&S Bank Arena (cap. 11,000) in May will benefit from Ticketmaster’s SafeTix, encrypted mobile tickets built with powerful fraud and counterfeit protection.
Ticketmaster’s SmartQueue technology will also be in place in the UK to provide an ‘enhanced booking experience’ for fans and ensure fair and secure access to tickets.
“Signing such an array of wonderful music events across the continent is a great way to kick off 2023”
In addition to the partnership with Eurovision, the ticketing behemoth has also inked deals with the concert to mark the Coronation of Their Majesties The King and the Queen Consort at Windsor Palace, the BBC 6 Music Festival, Portugal’s North Music Festival and NL Eventservice in the Netherlands.
Ticketmaster Spain will run Portugal’s boutique North Music Festival, with Ticketmaster Netherlands to lead Dutch promoter NL Eventservice’s various festivals including Live on the Beach and Biggest Summer Party.
“Signing such an array of wonderful music events across the continent is a great way to kick off 2023,” says Chris Edmonds, chairman of Ticketmaster International. “Ticketmaster’s technology is well-placed to not only handle the huge demand that prestigious events like Eurovision or the Coronation concert will bring, but also provide a seamless experience for the smaller, and equally important, events as well.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Springsteen adds further North American tour dates
Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band have confirmed additional North American arena and stadium dates for their blockbuster 2023 world tour.
The tour, which began in Tampa, Florida on 1 February, has attracted rave reviews, despite band members Steven Van Zandt, Soozie Tyrell and Nils Lofgren each missing certain shows due to Covid-19.
The newly added 22 concerts, which will take in 18 cities, run from 9 August at Chicago’s Wrigley Field to 8 December at San Francisco’s Chase Center.
Multiple nights have also been scheduled for Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park (16 & 18 August), New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium (30 August & 1 September), Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena (14 & 16 November) and Los Angeles’ Kia Forum (4 & 6 December). Tickets will go on sale over the course of the next two weeks.
The tour will be using Verified Fan via Ticketmaster for many shows, with tickets for Wrigley Field and Citizens Bank Park to be sold directly by the stadiums.
The concerts mark the band’s first run since 2016/17’s The River Tour, which was the highest grossing worldwide tour of 2016, earning $268.3m over 76 shows.
More than 1.5 million tickets have already been sold for the European leg alone, which commences at the 60,000-cap Estadi Olímpic in Barcelona on 28 April and winds up on 25 July in Italy at Prato della Gerascia, Autodromo di Monza. Many cities have added second or third stadium shows due to demand.
“No other act in the history of Spanish concerts has sold so many tickets that fast”
Spanish promoter Neo Sala at Doctor Music told IQ last year that demand for the shows helped set a new sales record in the country.
“We went on sale on [8 June] with one Estadi Olímpic, but it sold so fast that in less than an hour we had to add a second show which continued selling equally well,” he said. “By noon… we had sold more than 100,000 tickets which is an absolute record in Spain. No other act in the history of Spanish concerts has sold so many tickets that fast.”
Springsteen spoke out last November about the dynamic ticketing controversy for the tour. Individual tickets reached more than $5,000 via Ticketmaster’s market-based platinum pricing model when the first wave of The E Street Band’s US tour dates went on sale in the summer.
The backlash prompted the 73-year-old’s manager Jon Landau to defend the pricing, insisting it was in line with shows for acts of a similar stature, while the average ticket price is around $250.
“Ticket buying has gotten very confusing, not just for the fans, but for the artists also,” Springsteen told Rolling Stone. “And the bottom line is that most of our tickets are totally affordable. We have those tickets that are going to go for that [higher] price somewhere anyway. The ticket broker or someone is going to be taking that money. I’m going, ‘Hey, why shouldn’t that money go to the guys that are going to be up there sweating three hours a night for it?’
“It created an opportunity for that to occur. And so at that point, we went for it. I know it was unpopular with some fans. But if there’s any complaints on the way out, you can have your money back.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
Biden demands crackdown on ‘excessive’ ticket fees
US president Joe Biden is calling for a crackdown on “excessive” ticket fees for concerts and other entertainment events.
Biden proposed a “Junk Fee Prevention Act” as part of a meeting of the White House Competition Council this week, saying hidden or unexpected fees “are not only costly to consumers, but they can stifle competition by encouraging companies to use increasingly sophisticated tools to disguise the true price consumers face”.
According to the New York Times, the president is specifically asking Congress “to prohibit excessive fees, require the fees to be disclosed in the ticket price and mandate disclosure of any ticket holdbacks that diminish available supply”.
“Many online ticket sellers impose massive service fees at check-out that are not disclosed when consumers are choosing their tickets,” says a White House statement. “In a review of 31 different sporting events across five ticket sellers’ websites, service charges averaged more than 20% of the ticket’s face value, and total fees – like processing fees, delivery fees, and facility fees – reached up to more than half the cost of the ticket itself. A family of four attending a show could end up paying far more than $100 in fees above and beyond the cost of the tickets.”
“The president urges Congress to act now to reduce these fees through legislation”
The president’s plea to Congress follows his call for the reduction or elimination of hidden fees, charges and add-ons at a previous meeting last autumn. His latest statement comes just a week after Live Nation president and CFO Joe Berchtold was grilled about the company’s practices by a US Senate antitrust panel following the Ticketmaster-Taylor Swift Eras Tour presale controversy.
During last week’s hearing, LN’s Berchtold expressed the company’s support for transparent ticketing fees. “We should mandate all-in pricing so that fans see the full cost of their tickets from the start,” he said.
“While antitrust enforcement agencies have the authority to investigate and address anti-competitive conduct in the industry, the president urges Congress to act now to reduce these fees through legislation,” adds the White House statement. “Specifically, the president is calling on congress to prohibit excessive fees, require the fees to be disclosed in the ticket price, and mandate disclosure of any ticket holdbacks that diminish available supply.”
“We stand ready to work with the president and Congress on many common sense ticketing reforms”
Ticketmaster has released a new statement, saying it “strongly supports ticketing reforms that will benefit artists and fans, prevent fraud, and clean up fraudulent practices in resale markets”.
“These basic steps should be the things everyone agrees on, including mandating all-in pricing and outlawing speculative ticketing,” add a spokesperson. “We stand ready to work with the president and Congress on many common sense ticketing reforms, while also speaking out against proposed legislation that would benefit scalpers over artists and fans.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
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.”
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
IQ 116 out now: Ed Sheeran, Gaffer Award, Spain
IQ 116, the latest issue of the international live music industry’s favourite magazine, is available to read online now, with the print edition to land on desks between Christmas and New Year.
Our January 2023 issue is headlined by a special feature on the runaway winner of IQ’s Tour of the Year – Ed Sheeran‘s remarkable Mathematics Tour – as Derek Robertson speaks to some of the dedicated army of professionals who helped the superstar hitmaker realise his artistic ambitions.
We also turn the spotlight on Billie Eilish’s production manager Nicole Massey, who becomes the first woman to collect The Gaffer Award. Massey talks to Gordon Masson about her professional path and her hopes to see more women attaining positions of power in live music.
Elsewhere, The Architects sees some of the industry’s most visionary professionals reveal their blueprints for the future of live music, and we provide an update on the various events and partners preparing for the 35th edition of the International Live Music Conference, which will be held at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel from 28 February – 3 March 2023.
As well as all that, Adam Woods travels to Spain for his latest market report, while a bumper comments section features ticketing expert Tim Chambers, who gives a different perspective on the incredible presale demand for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. In addition, James Fieldhouse gauges the desire for more merger and consolidation action in 2023 and Attitude is Everything’s Suzanne Bull urges more events to sign up to the organisation’s accessibility programme.
As always, the majority of the magazine’s content will appear online in some form in the next four weeks.
However, if you can’t wait for your fix of essential live music industry features, opinion and analysis, click here to subscribe to IQ from just £6.25 a month – or check out what you’re missing out on with the limited preview below:
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.
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).
Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.