Taylor Swift fans shine a light on Ticketmaster troubles ahead of Beyoncé Renaissance World Tour

November and December are months that should be full of happiness, joy and merry-ment as you celebrate the end of the year and prepare for Christmas.

For Taylor Swift and her legion of Swiftie fans, while December also brings the Bejeweled singer’s birthday, November in 2022 brought the exciting news of tickets going on sale for her first tour in five years - The Eras Tour.

However, celebrations for getting tickets to see Taylor perform tracks from albums Lover, Evermore, Folklore and her latest Midnights, when she travels the United States between March and August this year, were halted when Ticketmaster wreaked havoc.

The ticket selling site failed to prepare for the ‘power of the Swifties’ who flocked to the site for pre-sale on November 15, but also suggested ‘a staggering number of bot attacks’ added to their problems.

The ‘controversy’ has reared its head again as another leading lady, namely Beyoncé, announces her Renaissance World Tour - the first in seven years, and fans keep holding Ticketmaster to account.

In light of this, PeopleWorld takes a look at the timeline of how the ‘Power of Swifties’ put Ticketmaster in its place:

The Ticket Promise

Taylor Swift informed her followers that public sale tickets were going to go on sale on 18 November, 2022 following a pre-sale three days earlier, in conjunction with Taylor’s partnership with Capital One.

Swifties were able to register for pre-sale between 1-9 November and gain a code to register for access, with the promise that ‘the best opportunity to get more tickets into the hands of fans who want to attend the show’ by evading bots and scalpers, according to Ticketmaster.

Ticketmaster Fails

As the sun rose on 15 November, dedicated Swifties were singing ‘You Belong With Me’ to the ticket sites and lined up to use their code.

However, moments into the pre-sale, Ticketmaster crashed due to an ‘unprecedented demand with millions showing up’, specifically 14 million, and published a statement to inform the fanbase they were working on the issues.

‘Moments’ later, Ticketmaster announced that hundreds of thousands of pre-sale tickets had been sold resulting in not only the pre-sale being pushed back, but the ultimate cancellation of public sale tickets, due to the site not having enough left over.

Other issues included fans having tickets in their baskets but then would lose them seconds later, or being asked to pay multiple times for their purchase.

Pre-sale alone generated $300-$400 million and ‘scalpers’ started to sell on Era Tour tickets from $11,000-$50,000 despite the promise that Ticketmaster could protect customers from the bots.

The hashtag #Ticketmasterisoverparty started circulating.

Taylor and Ticketmaster blows

Throughout her near two-decade career, Taylor Swift has been loyal to her fans, as they have been to her, and in response to the ‘excruciating’ Ticketmaster catastrophe, Taylor took to her Instagram to say how ‘pi**** off’ she was.

She continued to say how she thought all bases were covered for the Live Entertainment site as her team were assured they could meet the demand.

After initially blaming the millions of fans descending upon the site, Ticketmaster issued an apology on Twitter to the Swifties and Taylor Swift.

Fans stand their ground with Ticketmaster

In the words of Taylor Swift herself, ‘Look What You Made Me Do’ and on 2 December, 26 fans sued Ticketmaster for ‘intentional deception’, ‘fraud, price fixing and antitrust violations.’

While this may give a glimpse into the Power of the Swifties, the fanbase also united outside the U.S Capitol on 24 January 2023, when the US Department of Justice got involved in the debate.

As the State Judiciary Committee held a hearing with Ticketmaster following the DoJ opening an antitrust investigation into Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Entertainment Nation, fans displayed signs saying ‘Can’t Shake It Off, The Great War Monopoly Ticket Swindler’ and ‘Are You Ready For It’ - referencing Taylor’s songs.

Senate warns Beyoncé World Tour Tickets

Following the Taylor Swift fiasco, the Senate sent an ominous message to the ticket selling site ahead of Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour ticket launch, as they hope to avoid another catastrophe.

They tweeted, ‘we’re watching’ in response to fans who were preparing themselves with the failure of Taylor’s tickets in their rear-view mirror.

The Ticketmaster trepidation comes just after the O2 Priority ticket sale for Beyoncé's first tour in seven years crashed, so fans are hoping the Live Nation site won’t ‘Break Their Souls’ too.