The decision to suspend Friday’s general ticket sales comes just days after the site crashed during the presale for Taylor Swift’s tour, leaving many fans upset.
Ticketmaster has canceled ticket sales for the United States leg of Taylor Swift’s tour due to “insufficient ticket inventory” and “very strong demand.”
Swift’s first tour in five years, the Eras Tour, was scheduled to go on sale to the general public on Friday morning.
However, Ticketmaster announced on Thursday evening that Friday’s auction has been canceled owing to “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to match that demand.”
The decision was made days after the tour’s presale caused the website to break down, leaving disgruntled fans unable to purchase tickets.
Before the presale, the ticket business had encouraged supporters on Twitter to be patient as “millions” attempted to get tickets, resulting in “historically enormous demand.
Swift’s supporters, also known as Swifties, have criticized the company on social media after facing lengthy wait times and site disruptions during the tour’s presales, which began on Tuesday.
Fans reported spending up to eight hours in online queues, with many discovering they were too late to get tickets, which cost between $49 and $449 each.
Ticketmaster stated in a statement released on Thursday that it anticipated high demand for tickets and that a record 3.5 million verified fans had registered.
1.5 million would be invited to participate in the sale for all 52 show dates, including the 47 sold through Ticketmaster, while the remaining 2 million would be placed on a waiting list.
It was stated that the scheme was undercut by “bot” attacks – automated software queries – and demand from those who had not before registered.
“Bot attacks and fans without invite codes drove unprecedented traffic on our site, resulting in 3.5 billion total system requests – four times our previous peak,” claimed Ticketmaster.
“Never before has the sale of a Verified Fan generated so much attention – or unwanted noise.”
Years of hidden fees, skyrocketing prices, and limited ticket availability owing to presales have left fans and artists dissatisfied with Ticketmaster, which controls the ticketing market.
This Monday, Senator Amy Klobuchar sent a letter to the parent company of Ticketmaster, Live Nation Entertainment Inc, expressing “deep concern about the condition of competition in the ticketing market and its adverse impact on consumers.
Swift has not commented publicly on the topic.
The American portion of the 32-year-old singer’s tour will begin in Glendale, Arizona on March 18 and conclude in August.
During the tour, Swift will be accompanied by several musicians, including the bands Paramore and Haim and solo artists such as Phoebe Bridgers.
Swift’s latest album Midnights, which was released in October, had the most album sales in its first week since Adele’s 30 was published in November of last year.
It was also the most streamed album of the year in its first week, with 72,5 million streams throughout the week.
