The Cure’s Robert Smith says Ticketmaster will partially refund charges
Ahead of some tickets occurring sale Wednesday, the band mentioned on their official web site that they’d purposely “priced tickets to benefit fans” in an effort to “block scalpers and limit inflated resale prices.” Ticket costs began as little as $20.
“The Cure have agreed all ticket prices, and apart from a few Hollywood Bowl charity seats, there will be no ‘platinum’ or ‘dynamically priced’ tickets on this tour. See you there!” they wrote.
However, followers hoping to attend the 30 date “Shows of a Lost World” tour in cities from Boston to Tampa complained on-line that moderately priced tickets have been being inflated after processing and administrative charges have been added, with the charges usually exceeding the value of the tickets themselves.
One fan tweeted that 4 tickets costing a complete of $80 incurred service cost charges of greater than $90, and known as the additional expenses “ridiculous.”
In response to fan outrage, Smith, in a sequence of signature-style capitalized tweets, vowed to observe up with the platform.
“I am as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘fees’ debacle. To be very clear: The artist has no way to limit them. I have been asking how they are justified,” he tweeted Wednesday.
“We had final say in all our ticket pricing for this upcoming tour,” he added, to stop prices being “instantly and horribly distorted by resale.”
A day later, Smith emerged with information from Ticketmaster, who he mentioned had agreed to partial refunds.
“After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund,” on some verified fan transactions and a $5 per ticket refund for others. Fans who had already bought tickets would get an “automatic refund” he added, whereas future ticket gross sales would incur decrease charges.
Ticketmaster has not publicly commented on the matter and didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from The Washington Post.
This is an encouraging precedent, even when it is no substitute for wanted regulation. Artists take heed: once you converse up (with each conviction and nuance), you may make new issues doable. https://t.co/H1tCZdlaZv
— Future of Music Coalition (@future_of_music) March 16, 2023
The Cure’s followers welcomed the information on-line.
“My hats off to you and the band for actually caring about your ticket prices … You offered incredible pricing on your tour tickets for us fans and we appreciate that,” said one particular person.
“You’re awesome — hoping other bands follow in your footsteps!” said one other.
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-N.J.) tweeted his assist Thursday for the end result. “Props to Robert Smith and The Cure for standing up to Ticketmaster’s outrageous fees. Now Congress needs to show the same backbone and finally reform the ticket marketplace.”
The newest run-in comes as Ticketmaster has been in scorching water in current months after followers of varied artists have complained about payment expenses and malfunctions.
The subject was delivered to the fore final 12 months when Taylor Swift’s followers reported widespread points buying tickets for her “Eras” tour, prompting Ticketmaster to cancel the general public sale. The firm later apologized, saying a “staggering number of bot attacks” and “unprecedented traffic” to their web site led to points on their web site.
Swift known as the affair “excruciating,” whereas in an indication of additional dangerous blood, a few of her followers launched a authorized swimsuit in opposition to the corporate alleging fraud, misrepresentation and a number of antitrust violations, which Ticketmaster denies.
In Europe, too, followers hoping to attend the annual Eurovision Song Contest have been enraged earlier this month after reporting tech points with Ticketmaster, which they are saying left them ticketless.
The firm is below stress from U.S. regulators to show that it’s offering the perfect service to followers and artists, after client teams and senators from either side of the aisle accused the corporate of utilizing its “monopoly” energy to dominate the ticketing and live-events trade — one thing the corporate fiercely denies.
President Biden has additionally weighed in, calling for an finish extra broadly to “junk fees” to make sure “companies stop ripping us off,” throughout his State of the Union speech in February.
“I know how unfair it feels when a company overcharges you and gets away with it. Not anymore,” he mentioned, outlining plans for a Junk Fee Prevention Act. “We’ll cap service fees on tickets to concerts and sporting events and make companies disclose all fees upfront,” he added. “Americans are tired of being played for suckers.”
On its official web site, the corporate mentioned its purchasers — together with venues, sports activities groups and occasion promoters — “determine the number of tickets to be sold and set the face value price,” and repair, processing and supply charges “are determined in collaboration with our clients.”
However, it outlined that typically “ticket and fee prices may adjust over time based on demand,” just like airline and lodge room tickets.
For now, Smith acknowledged the system stays “far from perfect” and that “the reality is … a number of fans are going to miss out whatever system we use.”