‘Legalized theft’: Ticketmaster under fire again as Beyoncé Cowboy Carter Tour pre-sale goes awry

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Everyone’s favorite entertainment parasite Ticketmaster has attracted the ire of the BeyHive, after the pre-sale process for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour was plagued by long queues and dynamic pricing. 

The pre-sale tickets for the pop star’s 30-date Cowboy Carter and the Rodeo Chitlin’ Circuit Tour, went live on Tuesday. As legions of excited bees buzzed around the launch, however, they were met with what has become a familiar headache for the ticketing platform, in the form of ridiculously long wait times, sky-high service fees, and website crashes. The beehive, you could say, had been compromised, and fans were quick to respond. 

“Dynamic pricing during a presale is legalized theft,” one user wrote on X, “I’m speechless.” Others criticized the price jumps they encountered while purchasing the tickets, with some hopeful concert-goers sharing ticket prices that fetched as much as $700. Elsewhere, the Ticketmaster process of purchasing tickets was also a cause for annoyance, with some fans saying they were sent to satellite platform SeatGeek, or were left ticketless after completing Ticketmaster’s human-verifying puzzle. 

“This is not beyhive presale friendly at all omg,” one user surmised, “Blue Ivy tell mama someone taking advantage.” For what it’s worth, Beyoncé and Ticketmaster seemingly tried to alleviate some of the demand by adding more dates to the tour, but the relatively sparse number of venues (just seven in the U.S.) and the platform’s monopoly over the industry meant fans were left empty-handed. 

Unfortunately, this is not the first time the platform has been trolled for its service, with fans facing a similar mess while sourcing tickets for the likes of J. Cole, Kendrick Lamar, and SZA in recent months. In some instances, Ticketmaster’s failures have prompted a response from the musicians themselves. Last year, Oasis bandmates Noel and Liam Gallagher said they had “no awareness” that Ticketmaster was using dynamic pricing for their highly-anticipated reunion tour, with Liam saying more recently that he “[doesn’t] make the rules” and is “trying to do the right thing” in terms of ticketing. 

Then there was the Great Swiftie Ticketmaster controversy of 2022, which led to three lawsuits filed against the platform in response to failures around ticketing the pop star’s Era’s Tour. In response, Swift said herself that she found the long wait times and dynamic pricing to be “excruciating,” something that legions of Beyoncé fans are now learning the hard way. For those lucky enough to get their hands on tickets, Beyoncé’s tour will take her to stops in Chicago, New York, Houston, Atalanta, Washington DC, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. 

The tour comes in support of Beyoncé’s eighth studio album Cowboy Carter, which earlier this month saw her collect the Grammy Award for Best Country Album and Album of the Year. Beyoncé has elsewhere promoted the album, a follow-up to 2022’s Renaissance, with a record-breaking performance at the Christmas Day NFL game, and has teased its successor, which is referred to by fans as Act III. Details around the release date of that album remain scarce, but it’s likely that fans will still be waiting in Ticketmaster queues by the time it drops. Happy ticket-hunting, Beyoncé stans… keep buzzing! 

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