CONSUMER
Ticketmaster goes down again as Eurovision fans rush to snag tickets
Mar 7, 2023, 11:27 AM
MIAMI, FLORIDA - NOVEMBER 18: : In this photo illustration, A ticketmaster website is shown on a computer screen on November 18, 2022 in Miami, Florida. The Justice Department is reportedly investigating the parent company of Ticketmaster for possible antitrust violations, this follows the news that Taylor Swift concert ticket sales overwhelmed the Ticketmaster system.(Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(Photo illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(CNN) — Some fans of the Eurovision Song Contest were unable to access Ticketmaster’s website Tuesday, almost four months after the ticketing platform crashed under the weight of huge demand for tickets to Taylor Swift concerts.
According to PA Media, the Eurovision tickets were scheduled to be released at 7 a.m. ET, but ticket buyers were met with a server error message just minutes before the tickets were due to go on sale.
Ticketmaster appeared to be working again after 10 minutes, PA Media reported, with fans able to join a virtual line to buy tickets.
Tickets for the event are now sold out.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster told CNN that only “a very small number of fans experienced issues accessing the queue.”
“Ticket sales were unaffected, and thousands of fans secured their seats for the Eurovision Song Contest,” they added.
The ticketing site ran into trouble in mid-November when heavy demand for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour snarled the platform, infuriating millions of fans who couldn’t snag tickets.
Unable to resolve the problem, Ticketmaster subsequently canceled the sale of tickets to Swift’s concerts to the general public, citing “extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand.”
The fiasco has prompted US lawmakers to investigate whether Ticketmaster has a monopoly on selling tickets for events, resulting in higher prices for customers.
This year’s Eurovision takes place in May in Liverpool in the United Kingdom on May 13. The United Kingdom came second to Ukraine in last year’s competition, but has agreed to host the event on behalf of that country as it remains embroiled in a war with Russia.
— Samantha Murphy Kelly contributed reporting.
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