Taylor Swift breaks silence on Ticketmaster's 'excruciating' meltdown

Swifties, your girl has spoke on the Ticketmaster meltdown.

Taylor Swift posted on Instagram Friday expressing her anger and frustration over the difficulties her fans faced trying to buy tickets for her upcoming tour.

People who tried to buy tickets Tuesday in a pre-sale for Swift's The Eras tour were met by massive delays and error messages that Ticketmaster blamed on bots and historically unprecedented demand. A general public sale scheduled for Friday was cancelled Thursday. 

• Ticketmaster cancels public sale for Taylor Swift tour after demand broke records and website

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"I'm not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could," Swift wrote in her Instagram story. 

"It's truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them."

For those who didn't manage to get tickets, Swift said she hopes to "provide more opportunities for us to all get together and sing these songs."
 

Tuesday's pre-sale was the most tickets ever sold on the platform in a single day, according to a Ticketmaster statement.

Ticketmaster said late on Friday it wanted to apologize to "Taylor and all of her fans — especially those who had a terrible experience trying to buy tickets."

The company said it is working to shore up its technology "for the new bar that has been set by demand for the Taylor Swift's Eras Tour."

The New York Times reported Tuesday that the U.S. Justice Department was investigating whether Ticketmaster parent Live Nation Entertainment had abused its power over the multi-billion dollar live music industry.

Live Nation Entertainment said late on Friday that it takes its responsibilities under the anti-trust laws "seriously" and "does not engage in behaviours that could justify anti-trust litigation."

The investigation appears to be broad and began before this week's botched sale of tickets to Swift's tour, the Times said on Friday, quoting anonymous sources. The Justice Department declined to comment.

'Excruciating' to watch mistakes happen, Swift says

On Instagram, the pop star said she has trust issues when it comes to the experiences of her fans, trying to keep many elements of her career in house.

"It's really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse," she said.

In addition to Tuesday's nightmare, Ticketmaster cited "extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand" as a reason for calling off Friday's sale.
 

Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow's public on-sale for Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour has been cancelled.

— Ticketmaster (@Ticketmaster) November 17, 2022

Fresh off one of the biggest album launches of her career, Swift announced earlier this month that she was launching a new U.S. stadium tour, with international dates to follow.

Fans who received a special code after registering had exclusive access to buy tickets Tuesday. Those who didn't score tickets were placed on a waiting list.

The 52-date first leg of The Eras tour kicks off March 17 in Glendale, Ariz., and wraps up with five shows in Los Angeles ending Aug. 9.

Swift said international dates would be announced as soon as they can be.