No, Live Nation Entertainment President and CFO Joe Berchtold has not publicly apologized for the issues with Ticketmaster’s handling of Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour pre-sale. The pre-sale on November 15, 2022 was plagued with long wait times, website crashes, and failed ticket purchases, leaving many fans upset and ticketless. While Ticketmaster issued an explanation and apology, Berchtold and Live Nation have not made any public statements apologizing for the fiasco.
What happened with the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster pre-sale?
The pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s The Eras tour began on November 15, 2022 at 10AM local venue times. Over 3.5 million people pre-registered for the Verified Fan program in order to get a code to access the pre-sale. Due to the massive demand, Ticketmaster staggered the pre-sale over two days based on regions.
On November 15th, fans reported wait times of several hours to enter the queue on Ticketmaster just to access the website. Once in, many encountered error messages saying tickets were “unavailable” or getting kicked out of the queue. Ticketmaster’s site appeared to crash under the traffic load. Fans expressed outrage and frustration on social media as many were unable to get tickets.
Key facts about the pre-sale issues:
Over 3.5 million | People pre-registered for Verified Fan codes |
14 million | Total ticket requests on November 15th |
2 million | Tickets sold on November 15th |
1.5 million | Fans who had issues with queues and failing purchases |
The huge demand overwhelmed Ticketmaster’s systems and brought them to a halt. While some fans were able to get tickets, many more had fruitless waits, error messages, and unsuccessful transactions. The second pre-sale day on November 16th had less issues but still limited ticket availability.
What was Ticketmaster’s response?
On November 15th, Ticketmaster released a statement acknowledging the issues and said the site slowdowns were due to the staggering number of fans trying to purchase:
“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.”
The next day, Ticketmaster President Jared Smith posted an open letter apologizing to Swift and her fans. He stated:
“First, we want to apologize to Taylor and all of her fans – especially those who had a terrible experience trying to purchase tickets. Next, we feel we owe it to everyone to share some information to help explain what happened.”
Smith went on to detail the “monumental volume” of 3.5 million Verified Fan pre-sale codes and the resulting 14 million total system requests on November 15, double the peak traffic for any previous sale. He said their tech team attempted to stabilize the systems but it was ultimately insufficient for the historic site traffic.
Key parts of Ticketmaster’s apology:
- Acknowledged the terrible experience for fans trying to get tickets
- Apologized directly to Taylor Swift and her supporters
- Explained the record-breaking scale of traffic to their site
- Said their team worked to stabilize the systems under the demand
- Took accountability that their efforts were inadequate for the demand
While Ticketmaster admitted fault and shortcomings, there was no apology issued by Live Nation Entertainment’s executives.
What was Live Nation’s response?
Live Nation Entertainment owns Ticketmaster and is the world’s largest live entertainment company. Despite the public relations crisis and fallout from the failed Swift ticket pre-sale, Live Nation’s President and CFO Joe Berchtold has not released any statements apologizing for the Ticketmaster problems.
Other Live Nation executives including President and CEO Michael Rapino have not addressed the debacle publicly either. The only response has been Ticketmaster’s statement and letter from Jared Smith.
Some key points about Live Nation’s lack of response:
- No public apology from Joe Berchtold as Live Nation President
- No statements from CEO Michael Rapino
- Executives have been publicly silent since the pre-sale failure
- All statements have come from Ticketmaster only
- Live Nation has not acknowledged responsibility or faced PR backlash
The lack of response from Live Nation’s upper management has drawn criticism that the executives have not taken accountability as the owners of Ticketmaster. Some have speculated they hoped to avoid backlash by letting Ticketmaster take the blame.
What has the public reaction been?
Swift fans and ticket buyers unleashed their outrage towards Ticketmaster online. The hashtag #TicketmasterTaylorSwiftScam trended on Twitter with thousands venting about wasted time and inability to get tickets.
Some fans felt Ticketmaster’s systems and limits like Verified Fan should ensure a more fair process for buying tickets. The reality of lack of tickets and website crashes contradicted that.
Criticism also mounted against Ticketmaster’s dominance in ticketing and lack of competition. Calls grew for investigation and oversight of Ticketmaster’s monopoly power.
Some key reactions included:
- Anger at wasted time unable to access tickets
- Confusion over Verified Fan process effectiveness
- Demands for Ticketmaster to remedy the situation
- Cries of #TicketmasterTaylorSwiftScam trending hugely
- Disappointment and frustration from Taylor Swift fans
- Criticism of Ticketmaster’s hold on ticketing industry
The debacle also caught the attention of lawmakers. Senator Amy Klobuchar demanded action on Ticketmaster’s anti-competitive conduct and Senator Richard Blumenthal began an antitrust investigation into the company’s practices. The lack of public comment from Live Nation executives like Joe Berchtold only added fuel to criticisms.
How could Live Nation executives have responded?
PR experts think Live Nation’s executives missed an opportunity to show leadership and rebuild trust by not publicly addressing the Ticketmaster failure. Here are some ways they could have responded:
- Issue an apology on behalf of Live Nation and Ticketmaster
- Acknowledge that Ticketmaster is their responsibility as owners
- Detail steps they will take to improve ticket sales moving forward
- Provide refunds or other compensation to affected customers
- Commit to reevaluating their ticketing systems and protocols
- Be proactive with any government investigations and transparency
An apology and accountability from Live Nation’s CEO and President would have shown customers they take responsibility for their subsidiary’s actions and are working to directly address the problems. Their silence left an impression of evading public backlash.
Will Live Nation face any repercussions?
It remains to be seen if Live Nation will face significant repercussions over the Ticketmaster fiasco. Some potential consequences include:
- Investigations by the FTC or DOJ into antitrust practices
- Attempts by legislators to break up the Ticketmaster monopoly
- Class action lawsuits by consumers unable to buy Swift tickets
- Loss of customer trust, reputation damage
- Public pressure to improve Ticketmaster systems and processes
- Financial impact from PR fallout, litigation, policy changes
However, Live Nation continues to dominate the live entertainment and ticketing industries. Without meaningful policy changes or legal challenges, it’s unlikely there will be major structural impact. The lack of executive response signals confidence they will emerge relatively unscathed.
Conclusion
In summary, Live Nation President and CEO Joe Berchtold has not issued a public apology for the Taylor Swift Ticketmaster pre-sale failure debacle. Only Ticketmaster has addressed the issues directly. This has led to ongoing criticism and backlash against Live Nation as Ticketmaster’s parent company and calls for major reforms to challenge their industry control. While Live Nation may face some theoretical repercussions from the fan outrage, without leadership accepting responsibility, large policy or legal consequences seem unlikely. Their silence speaks volumes about their posture and priorities as executives. Nonetheless, the PR damage from spurning countless Swift fans should not be underestimated, and may require more than Ticketmaster alone to rebuild consumer trust.