NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Beyonce is going on tour.
The global superstar announced the "Renaissance World Tour" on Wednesday. This is Queen Bey's first solo tour in six years.
The North American leg of the tour is leveraging Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan technology to ensure more tickets get into the hands of concertgoers.
The Grammy award-winning singer is making a stop right in Nashville, but only July 15. Some fans are worried because Ticketmaster is in charge of selling the tickets. The ticket company made headlines for poorly handling the pre-sale tickets for Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour.
Currently, several Attorneys General are investigating Ticketmaster to see if they violated anti-trust or consumer protection laws, after the pre-sale for Swift's event. Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti is a part of the investigation.
In the Taylor Swift case, fans waited several hours for tickets in the queue. Some fans experienced waiting long hours, just to get kicked off the website. Also, several bots got in and purchased a lot of tickets.
Beyonce fans say they will “ring the alarm” if this experience isn’t better.
"I have been listening to her ever since I was a baby, and I love like how she performs and how much effort she puts into all our performances," said Beyoncé fan Dejiona Swanson.
Currently, Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti said some Taylor Swift fans were mad because they couldn’t get tickets. He said a good portion of fans were mad because the process wasn’t what was promised. He said it didn’t seem fair.
"After Taylor Swift, Beyonce and other artists are probably concerned about the same experience for their fans trying to buy tickets," said Skrmetti.
Fans are hoping the pre-sale Beyoncé experience is flawless. General Skrmetti hopes Ticketmaster utilizes the right technology to keep bots out.
"You're never going to have a 100% clean process where only the fans buy the tickets and only fans can show up. You can put in technology that cuts down on the bots most of the time. You can put in technology that makes it harder for the bots," said General Skrmetti.
If you're looking for tickets, Verified Fan Registration is open. Ticketing will begin on Monday, February 6, but you can get exact details on tickets here.
You can report a complaint to the Attorney General's Office, here.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to Ticketmaster about the BeyHive's concerns. This is their statement.
- You will see sales for this tour have been staggered.
- The North American leg of the tour is leveraging Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan technology
- Verified Fan requires registration to help filter out buyers looking to resell tickets, so more tickets get to fans who are going to hold on to tickets and attend the show.
- Registration windows for this tour close at different times depending on the city, fans should note the specific registration window for the show they are interested in.
- It’s expected there will be more demand than there are tickets available and a lottery-style process will determine which registered Verified Fans receive a unique access code for the sale and which are put on the waitlist.
- Historically Verified Fan onsales see only about 5% of tickets end up on the secondary market, which is lower than the 20-30% which is typical for non-Verified Fan onsales.
- Event Organizers determine the timing, price and how their tickets are sold, not Ticketmaster.
