Taylor Swift ticketing rush shows need for new concert solutions, says EQL co-founder

As Taylor Swift fans battle for tickets to the Australian leg of her massive Eras Tour, one local startup founder says legacy ticketing platforms are “fundamentally broken” and unable to handle the incredible demand for today’s hottest events and products.

Pop superstar Swift will bring her globe-spanning stadium tour to Sydney and Melbourne in February 2024, with ticket sales officially opening to the general public on Friday.

However, the Frontier Members pre-sale for Taylor Swift’s upcoming Sydney shows opened at 10am on Wednesday, causing legions of excited fans to descend on the Ticketek website at once.

Clearly anticipating extreme demand for these tickets, Ticketek launched a separate website landing page just for Swift fans, which refreshes every ten seconds.

Demand for Swift tickets is so intense that the company also limited access to its general website, seemingly to devote its tech platform to the Swift pre-sale.

Nevertheless, Swift fans have shared details of their stressful mornings on social media, with some claiming to have waited hours without access to the Ticketek purchase webpage.

It’s almost 2 hours @Ticketek_AU #ticketek I’m losing it pic.twitter.com/9Ev7uwxUZL

— Chocos (@barefootwinters) June 28, 2023

Anticipating that tension, Ticketek sought to ease concerns by claiming its website is functioning as planned.

“The Ticketek site is working, and fans are successfully purchasing tickets,” the company said on social media.

New solutions proposed for events like the Taylor Swift Eras Tour pre-sale

Andrew Lipp, co-founder of Melbourne startup EQL, says traditional ticketing websites are not fully equipped to handle demand for the biggest events and product releases.

EQL was founded on the promise of protecting pre-sale integrity for the hottest goods and tickets by preventing ‘bots’ — automated code designed to secure tickets — from reducing the supply available to genuine fans.

The startup raised $25 million last year, with major contributions from Insight Partners and local VC fund AirTree Ventures, among others.

Since then, it has worked with brands like Tiffany & Co. on the release of its Nike Air Force 1 collaboration, a ‘drop’ which proved to be one of the most hyped sneaker releases of all time.

Speaking to SmartCompany, Lipp said ticketing platforms should consider how to protect real fans during massively-hyped releases, including the Swift ticket pre-sale.

“We love to see demand like this, every artist and brand should want it,” he said.

“The passion is wonderful, but only if the systems in place are purpose-built to meet the moment.”

Ticket frenzies are decades old but not every platform has adjusted, Lipp said, meaning fans can have a hard time battling against modern bots in the queue.

“Today’s system is fundamentally broken meaning artists like Taylor are unable to ensure their real fans are prioritised,” he added.

To be certain, Ticketek is one of the world’s most well-resourced events companies with extraordinary insights into customer behaviour, and while anxiety around the pre-sale is apparent, there is no suggestion an onslaught of bots is currently rattling its website or forcing real fans to the back of the virtual line.

The landing page is a concerted attempt to stop bots in their tracks, the company told fans on Wednesday morning.

Sorry that you were timed out, the onsite timer has been implemented to protect fans from bots and scalpers. If you’ve been timed out head back to the event page and when you’re let through to the buying page, move through your purchase quickly.

— Ticketek Australia (@Ticketek_AU) June 28, 2023

Even so, Lipp said brands and ticketing providers should consider new ways to manage events facing extreme demand, to avoid circumstances like today’s pre-sale pandemonium.

“This could all easily be fixed by dropping events in batches or releasing dates in bursts, flattening the traffic spikes so sites don’t crash, and better understanding who is trying to purchase,” he said.

Lipp said EQL’s solution also involves analysing hundreds of buyer data points to ascertain if they’re a genuine consumer.

The platform can “identify and reward true fans by their online behaviour (i.e. liking a Taylor Swift Instagram post from 6 years ago),” he said, while “overlaying more data points to give priority access to tickets.”

“This separates the true fans, giving them first access before moving down the fan list through analysing more signals.”

While Lipp and EQL are promoting new high-tech solutions to modern scalpers, some lawmakers are taking a more traditional approach.

The Victorian government has deemed Swift’s upcoming Melbourne shows a ‘major event’, meaning tickets cannot be resold for more than 110% of face value.

Fines between $925 to $554,760 will apply, depending on the nature of the offence.