29 August, 2017
Through this new mechanics, her followers can now register for Taylor Swift Tix powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan for the chance to securely buy tickets to her "upcoming concert show".
"The 27-year-old star's camp gave an official press release to Entertainment Weekly, and it noted the pre-order procedure for her new album, "#Reputation".
The Verified Fan program is created to deter scammers and ticket bots by emailing a code to fans who pre-register to buy tickets.
The Verified Fan system is Ticketmaster's attempt at making sure that fans are able to get their hands on tickets for their favourite artists, with the programme trying to prevent touts from buying out concerts and selling them for an inflated price online. Her followers have to purchase the performer's merchandise and albums.
Swifties can improve their chances of getting concert tickets by posting on social media and watching her new music video, but also by pre-ordering her upcoming "Reputation" album (up to 13 times on different retailers) and buying merchandise - with a higher boost value for the activities that involve spending money. Then there's also the fact that even if you do partake in this scheme, emptying your bank account by buying merch just to be given the opportunity to even buy tickets, you could still be right out of luck.
As Jezebel says, the whole process is explained in its promotional video as a fun way to buy tickets, much like a game.
A progress bar keeps track of how close fans are of unlocking a ticket sale, but there's no way for them to know how far they have left to go.
Even if fans manage to buy a ticket through the program, there's little evidence that it will deter scalpers from getting tickets and reselling them for more money, according to Pascal Courty, an economics professor at the University of Victoria.
So, is Taylor Swift going on tour and how do you buy tickets? Fans will be incentivized to participate in online activities or "boosts" to generate points that are used to move closer to the front of the line for tickets.
It's the "boost activities" element that is proving controversial. Keep checking back for new boost activities you can do everyday"-meaning, nothing is guaranteed as more fans join the ticket Hunger Games". We just feel bad for the Taylor Swift fans who deserve a ticket to see their favorite artists, but likely won't have the chance because they can't pay 45 dollars for a T-shirt. 'If you ask them to spend money, it might backlash'. Thus this new mechanic didn't surprise some of her fans.
