Bad Blood between Taylor Swift fans and Ticketmaster

Ticketmaster said “You’re On Your Own, Kid” after Taylor Swift’s “Eras Tour” opened pre-sale on Tuesday for all tour dates, leaving legions of Swifties seething over reported crashing and other issues while trying to purchase tickets through Ticketmaster.

Junior Piya Garg said she “just got lucky” after being able to purchase tickets after 40 minutes.

Caroline Finnerty, a sophomore majoring in intelligence and cyber operations, was also able to secure tickets but expressed her shock at the skyrocketing resell prices.

“We got nosebleed tickets for $140 each, and later that day, they were reselling for $1,400,” Finnerty said.

Ticketmaster reportedly crashed 30 minutes before the sale began. During the sale, there were issues with crashing, and people having to wait in a queue for their turn. The West Coast sale was originally intended to begin at 10 a.m. but was pushed back to 3 p.m. to manage the surge in traffic on the website. Garg knew people who waited seven hours for tickets.

“Ticketmaster knew how much traffic they would be expecting for the pre-sales. It just seems irresponsible,” Garg said.

Au Chung was a not-so-lucky fan and told Annenberg Media about their frustration about an intense six-hour experience attempting to purchase presale tickets.

“It was getting so stressful I went outside with my laptop and credit card,” Chung said. “People wanted to buy tickets as fast but the queue was so backed up because pre-sale codes weren’t working, credit cards weren’t working and nothing was working.”

Chung does not have tickets but is staying updated with Taylor Swift Twitter fan accounts on rumors about when she will release more tour dates.

“I have a hard time blaming Taylor since this is her first tour with her new management, Republic Records,” Chung said.

In 2019 Taylor Swift was in a custody battle with her former management company Big Machine Records over the rights to her music, Chung explained.

Freshman Lilah Pate was also unsuccessful with pre-sale tickets but is looking forward to the regular ticket sale. She said she plans to “bite the bullet and eventually spend way more money than I should have.”

“I’m getting tickets,” Pate said. “That’s a no brainer.”

Pate said several of her friends missed class in order to get tickets, and they blame Ticketmaster for the mishaps.

“I don’t think anyone blames Taylor Swift,” she said.

This is Swift’s first tour in four years. It also will be the first one since the release of albums “Lover,” “Folklore,” “Evermore” and “Midnights” and the re-recording of “Fearless” and “Red.”

Ticketmaster has since updated fans on Twitter, claiming the event is in “historically unprecedented demand” as millions logged on to buy tickets.

Many have had issues with Ticketmaster’s “Verified Fan” status, which is used to get pre-sale tickets. It began in 2017 as an attempt to prevent scalpers and bots from buying out the tour with the purpose of reselling. The program requires users to enter personal information before they can purchase tickets. Then, they will find out if they are a “Verified Fan”' or waitlisted. This is now standard for major artists.

Chung also noted the members of Congress who were tweeting about Ticketmaster’s 2010 merger with Live Nation, which many national lawmakers said makes the ticket company a monopoly in the entertainment industry.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted, “Daily reminder that Ticketmaster is a monopoly, it’s merger with Live Nation should never have been approved, and they need to be reigned in. Break them up.”

“Congress members have been on Twitter stating Ticketmaster is a monopoly, and it’s true,” Chung said. “That is the only reliable place where fans can formally purchase tickets.”

Regular tickets will be available to the public on Friday, November 18. Are you … Ready For It?