Ticketmaster Under Fire Again for John Mayer and Beyoncé Tour Announcements

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Just a week after the Ticketmaster Senate Judicial hearing, the ticketing conglomerate trends again after fans experience issues purchasing John Mayer tickets. Beyoncé announced her much anticipated Renaissance Tour today as well, and Ticketmaster is set to handle the sale.

Fans pointed out the irony of John Mayer fans relating to Taylor Swift fans’ previous struggle to purchase tickets, as Swift has now famously written music about their previous relationship.

Similarly to The Eras tour presale disaster, it was made near impossible for people to purchase tickets to Mayer’s upcoming tour.

Other ticket buyers accused the platform of reselling to scalpers and scammers, who charged hundreds of dollars more than the original prices of the tickets.

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Fans were not anticipating another Taylor Swift situation on their hands with Mayer’s tickets today. While he has had a long and successful music career, he does not maintain as large of a fan base as pop stars like Swift and Beyoncé. Yet still, Ticketmaster ran into issues.

Beyoncé fans continue to brace for the potentially skyrocketing prices of Renaissance tickets.

Today marks the beginning of Black History Month, and fans of Queen Bey theorize that she strategically chose to announce her tour today.

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Ticketmaster is already in the hot seat for an investigation that may result in a split with Live Nation, their parent company, in accordance with anti-trust laws. The massive response from Taylor Swift fans is what led to a Senate Judicial hearing, and Beyoncé fans anticipate that her ticket sale may inevitably cause a similar effect.

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Ticketmaster has already changed its presale system ahead of Beyoncé’s ticket sales. This is likely to avoid another massive controversy, and potentially further legal action.

Despite the seemingly better organization, people continue to reflect on the ticketing process as a whole. Before the conglomerate took over the vast majority of ticketing in the United States, buying tickets to see a favorite artist was a much cheaper and easier process.

Amid all the buzz about Ticketmaster and the high fees needed to see Taylor Swift, John Mayer, Beyoncé, and potentially other artists this year, President Biden stepped in. Today he announced a plan to crack down on unnecessarily high ticket fees that partially result from Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system. Some of Ticketmaster’s processing fees, which Clyde Lawrence, of New York City based sibling duo Lawrence, claimed artists never see a penny of, are now as much as 78% of the cost of tickets.

Regardless of who everyone’s favorite artists or professional sports teams are, ticket buyers everywhere agree that there has to be a better solution to ticketing.

Beyoncé’s first verified fan presale group closes registration tomorrow, with the second two closing on February 8 and 9. Swift’s presale only had one group for all North American tour dates.

Ticketmaster remains at the forefront of the anti-trust discussion, with Senators like Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota supporting new legislation. A looming investigation from the Justice Department could also be in the works, despite a deal that Ticketmaster and Live Nation made with the Judiciary Committee to remain merged until 2025.

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