Ed Sheeran’s Efforts To Ward Off Ticket Scalpers Were In Vain
Ed Sheeran is losing a war against ticket scalpers. The singer’s new measures to ward off scalpers reselling tickets at inflated prices have been unsuccessful so far, and Ed’s fans are none too pleased.
Earlier this week, online ticket outlets launched an initial pre-sale for Ed Sheeran’s 2018 Australian stadium tour – only to draw ire from Sheeran’s fans who missed out on the tickets.
Thousands of Ed Sheeran fans took to social media to slam Ticketek and Ticketmaster for struggling to cope with the influx of visitors trying to get their hands on the coveted tickets.
Ticketek and Ticketmaster failed to cope with the influx of visitors and saw their servers crash in a matter of minutes after the pre-sale started. Ed Sheeran’s fans, who desperately want to see the “Shape of You” singer perform stadium dates across Australia in 2018, are blaming the online ticket outlets for poor management and weak servers.
Ticket scalpers flooding the sites are responsible for the server crashes, and Ed Sheeran – like all other artists in 2017 – is no stranger to trying to prevent scalpers from wreaking havoc every time his tickets go on sale, according to News Australia.
But this time around, Ed Sheeran has introduced new measures in an attempt to ward off ticket scalpers. This time, the tickets purchased in May 2016 will not be sent out until January 30, 2018, which creates an unfavorable environment for scalpers to resell tickets at ridiculously inflated prices.
But Ed Sheeran’s new measures haven’t worked out as well as planned, and ticket scalpers are still buying huge amounts of tickets only to resell them later. In fact, hundreds of tickets to Ed Sheeran’s 2018 tour dates have already been spotted on such sites as Viagogo, eBay, and Gumtree for inflated prices.
Ed Sheeran’s fans who wanted to get pre-sale tickets for the “Shape of You” hitmaker’s shows this week are taking to social media to express their outrage.
been on the @edsheeran presale since before it opened, still "sit tight" mate I'm sitting tight and about to punch ticketmaster #edsheeran
— Adelaid (@Adelaid_H) May 16, 2017
The year is 2178.
People are still waiting to buy pre-sale Ed Sheeran tickets.
— Matt Back (@MattNotFront) May 16, 2017
Ed Sheeran’s measures to send out tickets just several weeks prior to kicking off the tour follow the singer’s previously announced measures to cap ticket prices for his upcoming Australian stadium tour at around $165 for A-reserve seats.
Ed Sheeran is also offering more affordable options by selling tickets at around $70 and $100. Fans who failed to get their tickets at capped prices from Ticketek and Ticketmaster due to their crashing serves can now expect to pay up to $550 for an A-reserve ticket for Sheeran’s shows.
Ed Sheeran’s 2018 Australian tour is his first tour around the country since March 2015. However, that’s not the only draw-card for Ed’s fans – as this time the “Photograph” singer will be doing stadium shows.
Ed Sheeran performing at the largest stadiums of Australia is nothing out of the ordinary for Australians, as both Adele and Justin Bieber have recently finished their stadium tours around the country.
Ed Sheeran, whose musical achievements are constantly compared to fellow British signer Adele, will do his best to beat Adele’s recent stadium tour record set in Australia, as the “Shape of You” singer will have to outperform Adele’s record of playing for 100,000 fans.
Adele’s record was set at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium in March and is the biggest single concert in Australian history. Ed Sheeran’s chances are looking good so far, as apparently Australians love the British redhead.
His latest album Divide has been No. 1 for almost 10 consecutive weeks in Australia, while his hit song “Shape of You” beat ABBA earlier in May to become the longest-running No. 1 in Australian chart history.
Tickets for Ed Sheeran’s Australia stadium tour go on sale for the general public go on sale this coming Tuesday – and Ticketek and Ticketmaster are certainly preparing their servers for an even larger influx of Ed’s fans and, of course, ticket scalpers.
[Featured Image by Matt Sayles/AP Images]
