Fans all over the globe rejoiced after Beyoncé confirmed her 2023 Renaissance World Tour on Instagram. Their enthusiasm was quickly doused after Ticketmaster announced a lottery method for buying tickets.
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Owing to the memorable debacle of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in which Ticketmaster abruptly canceled the pre-sale event, the ticketing titan rolled out a brand-new mechanic for getting tickets in its blog to alleviate over 800% ticket demand.
The instructions state that buyers from North America would first have to be registered as "Verified Fans." Random users will be selected for the unique access code, which still doesn't guarantee purchase, while the rest will have to remain on a waiting list.
Fans have been calling out Ticketmaster over Twitter with users warning the ticketing distributor not to "screw up" the Beyoncé tour.
make sure them servers are up and running
— i am first and foremost a beyoncé stan (@connornotconnie) February 1, 2023
The Taylor Swift Fiasco
Ticketmaster reasoned that the websites were overloaded during the Eras tour because of a bot attack. However, Variety Deputy Music Editor Jem Aswad explained that the issue likely stemmed from Ticketmaster putting "too many tickets in the market."
Needless to say, Swift was disappointed with the experience and vented on Instagram, "It's really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me just to watch mistakes happen with no recourse."
As a response, Ticketmaster apologized in a Tweet, "We want to apologize to Taylor and all of her fans - especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets."
Government Oversight for Queen B
Fortunately for Beyoncé, apart from Ticketmaster rolling out fewer tickets for pre-sale than for the Eras tour, the government is involved this time. The US Senate Judiciary Committee tweeted, "We're watching" after the ticket company officially announced the tour.
Last month, TicketMaster was called to a senate hearing due to an alleged monopoly of the ticketing industry. A 2010 court filing stated that Ticketmaster has more than 80% of the market share, which Ticketmaster CFO Joe Berchtold quickly disputed, saying they hold a maximum of 30%.
Live Nation President Joe Berchtold apologized at the congressional hearing. "We need to do better, and we will," he added.
Beyoncé will start her North-American world tour in Toronto on July 8 and end in New Orleans on September 27. Her massive hit, the Renaissance album, made history by breaking Grammy's records for the most number of wins.
