Beyoncé performing.
Larry Busacca | PW18 | Getty Images
Ticketmaster is gearing up for what’s expected to be high demand for tickets to Beyoncé’s upcoming “Renaissance World Tour,” because the ticketing giant continues to face criticism over the botched presale for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour last 12 months.
Beyoncé announced Wednesday that her first solo world tour since 2016 will kick off May 10 in Stockholm, Sweden, and conclude Sept. 27 in Latest Orleans. The superstar will perform songs off of her seventh studio album “Renaissance,” which released over the summer and is within the running for Album of the 12 months at Sunday’s Grammy’s awards ceremony.
Ticketmaster said in a statement that “demand for this tour is predicted to be high,” and that it plans on using its Verified Fan system again to prioritize tickets to those that register with the platform. The corporate said the multistep verification process will “ensure more tickets get into the hands of concertgoers,” and can “help filter out buyers seeking to resell tickets” and automatic bots.
Ticketing for the North American leg of the 41-date tour begins Feb. 6, in line with Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation, and fans hoping to secure presale tickets can have a greater likelihood in the event that they register with Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan system.
Ticketmaster said that registering doesn’t guarantee tickets and only Verified Fans who later receive a code through lottery-style selection will then have access to affix the sale on a first-come, first-served basis on the sale date. Registration windows vary by city and the corporate warns “there might be more demand than there are tickets available.”
In November, verified fans for Taylor Swift’s “Eras” tour presale faced long wait times, confusion and technical glitches. Inside 48 hours of the presale going live, Ticketmaster canceled most of the people sale, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to fulfill that demand.”
The corporate later said bots were a minimum of partially answerable for the disruption.
CNBC reached out to Ticketmaster and Live Nation for comment Thursday.
Following the November meltdown, Ticketmaster and Live Nation have faced fresh scrutiny over their 2010 merger, with politicians and competitors calling the ticketing site a monopoly within the live music industry, leading to exorbitant ticket fees and poor customer support.
Every week ago, senators held a hearing on the matter, by which lawmakers from each side of the aisle questioned Live Nation’s chief financial officer, Joe Berchtold. A bunch of Swift fans are also suing Live Nation, accusing the corporate of “anticompetitive conduct.”
