Will Ticketmaster survive the Beyoncé Renaissance tour frenzy? : NPR

News of Beyoncé’s first solo tour in over six years has many of her fans celebrating — and confirming whether they’ll actually be able to get tickets.

the singer announced on Wednesday She will bring it Grammy nominated album Renaissance to cities across Europe and North America between May and September, opening in Stockholm and ending in New Orleans.

Fans have been eagerly awaiting her return to venues ever since Renaissance fell last summerif not earlier.

Beyoncé’s most recent solo tour was “Lemonade,” though she performed with husband Jay-Z on the “On the Run Tour II” in 2018. She took to the stage for the first time since the end of January, when she headlined a special opening a Luxury hotel in Dubai.

The first round of ticket sales will open to members of Beyoncé’s official fan club Monday through Ticketmaster, which is already facing intense scrutiny for its botched Taylor Swift pre-sale in November.

Fans and legislators alike He says Ticketmaster’s problems run much deeper than a single concern, accusing it of being a monopoly (which executives deny) and calling for changes in the ticketing industry.

The company has apologized for the Swift pre-sale mess, which it blamed on huge demand and bot attacks. “We need to do better, and we’ll do better,” Live Nation President and Chief Financial Officer Joe Berchtold told lawmakers at last month’s hearing.

Many are wondering (and in some cases skeptical) whether sales will go more smoothly this time around. BayhiveAs Beyoncé’s fans are known, brace yourself for what could be another frenzy.

Fans are flooding social media with simultaneous excitement and anxiety over the prospect of securing tickets to the highly anticipated tour. some are Beyoncé jokingly disagrees To discourage potential buyers, others poking out of pressure Ticketmaster faces many devotees like themselves.

The stakes are high: Senators criticized Ticketmaster’s market power at the hearing and expressed interest in pursuing antitrust legislation, while the US Department of Justice said to be Investigate its parent company, Live Nation – which Fast fans are suing on allegations of fraud and antitrust violations.

“Did Ticketmaster learn who runs the world? Girls. Beyoncé. Taylor Swift. Fans. We’re all watching,” she tweeted. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a staunch advocate of antitrust reform and critic of company behavior (and no stranger to Refer to the lyrics).

Ticketmaster does not expect to meet demand

Ticketmaster and Beyoncé also appear to be preparing for overwhelming demand, trying to prioritize their biggest fans and warning that some will inevitably be disappointed.

It used the North American leg of Ticketmaster’s Renaissance Tour Verified fan The system starts with an exclusive sale to BeyHive members.

Presumably, this is anyone who signs up for Beyoncé’s mailing list through her official website (though some tweeted The subscription page disappeared from the site after the tour was announced.)

The Verified Fan system aims to get tickets for real people, away from bots and professional vendors, by having fans pre-register for their favorite shows and vet them individually.

But just because your identity is verified doesn’t mean you’ll get a ticket. When demand is high, the company uses a lottery system to decide who gets an access token for sale and who gets put on a waiting list.

“We expect there will be more demand than tickets are available and a lottery-style process will determine which registered authorized fans receive a unique access code and which are put on a waiting list,” Ticketmaster says From Beyoncé’s tour.

Taylor Swift’s Iras Tour wasn’t Ticketmaster’s first controversy

Ticketmaster’s Renaissance Tour warning has echoes in General apology Her executives released after the pre-show of Swift’s Eras Tour.

At the time, it said more than 3.5 million people were registered as verified fans, with 1.5 million opted to buy tickets and the other 2 million on a waiting list. It sold a record two million tickets on the first day of pre-sale, but ended up having more technical problems on the second day before general sale was canceled entirely.

Swift said in a statement of her own that she had received several times assurances that the company was ready for the request.

“It’s really hard for me to trust an external entity with these relationships and allegiances, and it’s painful for me to watch mistakes happen without recourse,” Swift wrote.

While company executives have blamed bots, Ticketmaster’s critics say their issues with the company go far beyond what happened in November. Artists like Bad Bunny, BTS, Bruce Springsteen, and Harry Styles have had ticket problems, too. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. Tell morning edition before last month’s session.

At the hearing, lawmakers from both parties, executives of smaller entertainment companies, and a musician spoke about how the lack of competition in the ticket industry hurts artists as well as fans. They fear this will be the case as long as Live Nation remains the dominant concert promoter and ticketing platform in the United States.

Daniel Avital, chief strategy officer at CHEQ — a cybersecurity firm focused on protecting companies from bots — says Beyoncé fans “have cause for concern.”

“If a speculative attack of this proportion happened once on Ticketmaster, it will likely happen again,” he told NPR by email, “unless more robust security measures are put in place.”

What do you know if you are looking for tickets

Ticketmaster seems to be running things a little differently this time around.

Registration is divided into three groups of cities (although it states that people can register in multiple groups). Each has its own deadline for signing up for pre-sale tickets, starting Thursday night and ending on February 16th.

There are other steps fans can take to try and increase their odds. Citi card members can access pre-sale tickets by registering with their credit or debit card number, and Verizon Up rewards program members can participate. through his website.

dots man Offer tips For anyone attempting to disable pre-sale tickets, including: adding your eligible card to your Ticketmaster account in advance, logging in early and from a strong Wi-Fi network if possible and only refreshing the page in very limited circumstances.

If you feel overwhelmed with the thought of strategizing, you are not alone. Music writer Corbin Reeve put it this way in a tweet:

“Hey, remember when the announcements for a concert tour were sensational news instead of the harbingers of a very complex, bewilderingly expensive purchase that ruins the whole experience before it even begins?” he wrote, sarcastically thanking Ticketmaster.

Dates and prices may change

It’s not yet clear how much tickets for the North American tour will cost, and it’s worth noting that Ticketmaster is controversial.dynamic pricing Adjusts ticket price based on consumer demand.

The first tickets for Beyoncé’s five UK dates sold out Thursday, and BBC reports Record prices were roughly the same as the 2018 Tour.

It said customers of telecoms provider O2 were the first to gain access, and some reported problems with the app and website. People who purchased tickets reported paying anywhere from $68 to $245 for standard tickets and up to approximately $2,940 for “on stage” VIP seats.

The United States and Canada are next. Be sure to double check dates and locations for tour stops, eg USA Today reports Some of it has changed (and fans are anticipating — and hoping — on Twitter that more can be added).