Live Nation Entertainment Inc’s Ticketmaster website crashed on Tuesday following the release of pre-sale tickets for the first tour by Taylor Swift in five years.
In an update posted on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Ticketmaster referred to demand to see the singer’s performances as “historically unprecedented,” with millions of people attempting to purchase tickets.
Issues began after tickets were released on the website for Swift’s Eras Tour, which will take place in America between March and August next year, with customers reporting wait times of several hours as well as a lack of tickets once they finally reached the front of virtual queues.
Tickets reportedly appeared on resale sites but these were at extremely inflated prices with some as high as US$22,700 each.
Ticketmaster delayed its sales of tickets for shows on the US west coast by several hours due to the demand, while another pre-sale for Capital One credit card holders was pushed back by a day as it worked to resolve traffic issues on its website.
In response to complaints over the issues, US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation needed to be broken up.
“Ticketmaster is a monopoly, its merger with Live Nation should never have been approved, and they need to be reined in,” she said.