Taylor Swift angers fans with 'calculating' tour tickets 'scam'

Earlier this week, Taylor Swift dropped her first new song in three years, sending her dedicated fans into a tizzy with ‘Look What You Made Me Do’, which peaked at number one on iTunes across the world.

However, fans are starting to turn on the singer after her shrewd plans for an upcoming tour were announced, with some angry Swifties even dubbing her strict “rules” for securing tickets a “scam”.

With her new album, ‘Reputation’, to be released in November, Taylor has confirmed that she will be embarking on a tour and that she has teamed up with Ticketmaster in order to utilise their Verified Fan programme for sales.

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.

Many artists have utilised the system in the past and it has always gone down well, however, Taylor has added a twist to her Ticketmaster deal that has left fans incredibly unimpressed.

As well as registering for the tickets as normal, Taylor’s fans are invited to participate in “boost activities” which will “improve their place in line”.

Small boosts are available for free; fans can promote Taylor online or sign up to her mailing list, however, in order to fully maximise their chances of securing concert tickets, fans must splash out on official Taylor Swift merchandise or even buy her upcoming album multiple times.

Swifties have been challenged to buy ‘Reputation’ up to 13 times a day, from 13 different retailers, in order to increase their hope of seeing their icon on tour, or they could also purchase a $60 snake ring, $75 jumper, or $45 T-Shirt.

Although the Verified Fan Activity Meter will show whether you are in the ‘wait list’ or ‘priority list’ for Swift tickets, Jezebel note that the small print for Taylor’s “game”, which has been called ‘Taylor Swift Tix’, states that taking part in boost activities doesn’t even guarantee going up in the queue.

It reads: “Your standing may change as more fans join the line and participate in boost activities. Keep checking back for new boost activities you can do everyday.”

Needless to say, the move has sparked outrage – with some even comparing the campaign to the Hunger Games on social media:

Taylor has been blasted across the board for the move, which has been dubbed “shrewd” and a “woefully transparent cash grab” by critics, but the star is yet to comment.

Yahoo Celeb UK have contacted Taylor and Ticketmaster’s reps.

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