Taylor Swift recently announced that she will be going on tour in support of her new album Midnights. As expected, demand for tickets was extremely high with millions of fans trying to get tickets through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program. This led many fans to join Taylor’s official fan club, TaylorSwiftTix, which gives members access to an exclusive presale through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan Waiting Room. With so many people trying to get into the Waiting Room, does it actually matter when you join?
What is Taylor Swift’s Waiting Room?
Taylor Swift’s Waiting Room is part of Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan program. It is an online “waiting room” that fans can access during presales for Taylor’s concerts. Only official Verified Fans who have received a presale code from Ticketmaster can enter the Waiting Room. This helps prevent scalpers and bots from buying up all the tickets.
When a presale starts, Verified Fans are randomly assigned a spot in the Waiting Room queue. This prevents people from camping out on the site ahead of time to try to be first in line. Fans then wait in the virtual line until it’s their turn to access tickets.
When do you have to join by?
For the Eras Tour presale, you had to sign up for Taylor’s fan club TaylorSwiftTix by November 9 to get a code for the Verified Fan presale. This presale took place on November 15. So in this case, you needed to join TaylorSwiftTix about a week before the presale to get a special code.
In general, Ticketmaster requires fans to register for Verified Fan presales several days or weeks before the actual sale. This is because they want to verify identities and weed out potential ticket scalpers. So if you want special presale access for Taylor’s tours, you typically need to sign up for her fan club in advance.
Does it matter when you join the Waiting Room?
With millions of fans registered for Taylor’s Verified Fan presale, does it actually matter when you join the Waiting Room on the day of the sale?
Your place in line is randomized
Ticketmaster uses a randomized queue system for Verified Fan Waiting Rooms. This means everyone who got a presale code gets placed into a random spot in the queue when they log into the Waiting Room. So whether you join 5 minutes before the sale or 1 hour before, you end up in a random place in line.
The idea behind this is to make the process fair and prevent people from camping out early to try to improve their spot. So when you join the Waiting Room does not affect your place in line.
You can’t access tickets right at the sale time
Another key factor is that Ticketmaster staggers access to tickets during a Verified Fan presale. For example, the sale might start at 10 AM but fans will be let through randomly over a period like 10 AM – 1 PM.
So even if you’re #1 in line, you won’t necessarily get instant access at 10 AM on the dot. You may have to wait an hour or more. Similarly, if you join later, you may still get access before fans who joined earlier.
The purpose is to rate limit traffic to the ticket sales site to prevent crashes. So timing when you join the Waiting Room does not guarantee you tickets right at the presale start time.
Tips for Joining the Waiting Room
While the time you join the Waiting Room doesn’t affect your place in line, here are some tips for having the best experience:
Join as early as possible
There’s no disadvantage to joining the Waiting Room as soon as it opens, which is typically 1-2 hours before the presale start time. Even though your place is random, being signed in early ensures you don’t miss the start due to technical issues or getting stuck in the queue.
Use both desktop and mobile
Have both desktop and mobile browsers ready when joining the Waiting Room. This gives you two chances to access tickets and doubles your odds.
Ensure presale code works
Double check your Verified Fan presale code works in the Ticketmaster system before joining the Waiting Room. The last thing you want is an invalid or incorrect code preventing access.
Clear cookies and cache
Clear your browser history, cookies, and cache before accessing the Waiting Room. Start with a fresh slate to avoid browser issues or conflicts.
Retry if you don’t get tickets
Don’t leave the Waiting Room right away if you don’t get tickets initially. There are often multiple releases over a period of hours. So retry and you may get lucky on a subsequent round.
Is it worth it to join TaylorSwiftTix?
Here is a comparison of joining TaylorSwiftTix vs. waiting for the general public onsale:
TaylorSwiftTix | General Public Onsale |
---|---|
Access to presales before general public | No presale access |
Typically better ticket availability | Leftover tickets after presales |
Must join and be verified before presale date | No need to join fan club |
No guarantee of tickets | No guarantee of tickets |
As you can see, TaylorSwiftTix offers the advantage of earlier access which generally means better ticket availability. There’s never a guarantee you’ll get tickets. But joining the fan club improves your odds, especially if you are set on getting the best seats. If you don’t want to join the fan club, you can always try your luck during general public onsales instead.
Conclusion
While the timing of when you join the Waiting Room itself doesn’t matter, joining Taylor’s fan club for presale code access can greatly improve your chances of getting tickets. The Verified Fan system uses randomized queues and staggered ticket releases, so there is no advantage to joining the Waiting Room right at the start. The most important factors are signing up for a presale code well in advance and using multiple devices to access the sale. With millions of fans competing for tickets, TaylorSwiftTix gives you the best shot at seats through exclusive presales before the unpredictable general public onsales.