Beyhive, prepare your devices (and wallets)! Just yesterday, Beyoncé finally made an official announcement for her upcoming summer Renaissance World Tour. Throughout the summer, the pop superstar will embark around the world showcasing her vocal, visual, and choreography chops, appeasing impatient fans. However, the Beyhive are already abuzz online, anticipating the difficulty of obtaining tickets to the shows and high selling prices being sold through Beyoncé’s website and ticket giant Ticketmaster. Fans are bracing themselves for a brutal battle online to claim their tickets.
To avoid a repeat of the fiasco that occurred during the pre-sale of pop star Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, Ticketmaster posted a guideline for the event. In a post, the company stated that they anticipate high demand for the tour; to participate in the upcoming presale for the show(s) (within the U.S.), fans must register as a “Verified Fan”.
According to the company, this process is done to fight off bots that mass purchase tickets for resellers to hike ticket prices up to astronomical rates. Ticketmaster also states, “If there is more demand than there are tickets available, a lottery-style selection process will determine which registered Verified Fans get a unique access code and which are placed on the waitlist.” Despite all this information, this code does not guarantee a ticket to the show.
Much of the preparation and subtle warnings delivered by Ticketmaster are undoubtedly done to improve from the previous failure of presales for Swift’s tour. Because of the high demand for tickets to Swift’s shows, many fans were unable to purchase tickets during the general sale due to high demand during the presale, resulting in sold-out shows across the tour dates and the cancellation of the general sale.
Following the problematic presale event, Ticketmaster’s business practices were questioned, eliciting a US Senate Judiciary Committee hearing questioning the lack of competition in the ticketing industry. During the hearing regarding ticket sales for Swift’s tour, senators publicly pondered Ticketmaster’s lack of control over the situation and questioned the ticket giant’s iron grip over the ticket selling industry.
In reaction to both the announcement of the tour and the ticket giant’s warning, fans online have openly discussed their economic preparations for the tour and explicitly threatened Ticketmaster to advocate for a smooth purchasing process for the show. Only time will tell if the battle for tickets to these shows repeat the ticket-selling fiasco of Swift’s Eras Tour.
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