Taylor Swift has been taking on Ticketmaster and their parent company, Live Nation, over their terrible ticket buying experience, not to mention exorbitant fees and near monopoly over concert venues nation wide. They’re currently under an antitrust investigation by the Department of Justice. 80s Goth legends The Cure are going on tour for three months starting this May. They tried to work with Ticketmaster to ensure that prices were fair and affordable and would not skyrocket based on demand. Due to Ticketmaster, local venues and resellers trying to get a cut this proved impossible. In many cases additional fees were more than the original ticket price. Frontman Robert Smith issued several statements about this condemning Ticketmaster. As a result Ticketmaster has announced that they will refund a whole $10 to ticketholders.
The Cure… had established what many live music experts would say were the ideal measures for a fan-centered experience to keep tickets at face value even as demand is higher than supply. The Cure likely left some money on the table when they declined to use dynamic pricing that now often accompanies high-profile arena shows, and they kept tickets non-transferable to make it harder for scalpers to sell tickets at hefty premiums.
Despite those efforts, by the time the sale started on Wednesday, Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation were once again facing the vitriol of fans, this time over fees that in some cases amounted to more than the price of the ticket itself, alongside the more common tech issues that hold buyers in line for long periods of time or prevent them from purchasing tickets after selecting them.
But for two days, Smith had been vocal about the band’s intent to ensure fans only bought tickets at face value, calling out everything from scalpers to platinum tickets to the fees themselves, and by Thursday evening, he’d announced a rare move in which customers would get a small refund from Ticketmaster over the fees, stating that the company “agreed the fees were unduly high.”
This is a complicated story due to the multiple players but it boils down to concert goers getting fleeced despite artists’ best efforts. While I haven’t been to a big concert in years, I just bought plane tickets from Allegiant. The UI was purposefully confusing and geared toward selling add-on packages that amounted to more than double my ticket price. I was almost conned into paying over $300 for a ticket that was supposed to be $150. I have worked online and in tech for over 20 years! (My kid is more tech savvy than me though.) I’ve heard that similar fees at Airbnb drive up costs so much.
I saw The Cure on tour with The Pixies and Love and Rockets in 1989. (I was a teenager, shut up.) I would love to see The Cure play again, but it doesn’t look like they’re playing near me. They have a limited number of tickets available starting at 10am local time per venue today, as per an announcement on their website. If you’re a well-aged goth like me and you score some, tag me on Twitter or Instagram with your pics from the show!
This is an encouraging precedent, even if it's no substitute for needed regulation. Artists take heed: when you speak up (with both conviction and nuance), you can make new things possible. https://t.co/H1tCZdlaZv
— Future of Music Coalition (@future_of_music) March 16, 2023
WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER'S "Verified Fan Page” AND "Face Value Ticket Exchange” IDEAS COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS
— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
WHAT I MEANT BY THIS BIT WAS… I HAD A SEPARATE CONVERSATION ABOUT 'PLATINUM', TO SEE IF I HAD MISUNDERSTOOD SOMETHING… BUT I HADN'T! IT IS A GREEDY SCAM – AND ALL ARTISTS HAVE THE CHOICE NOT TO PARTICIPATE… IF NO ARTISTS PARTICIPATED, IT WOULD CEASE TO EXIST X https://t.co/Kj7hjkRGn1
— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023
This man is awesome on several levels
Robert Smith of The Cure succinctly explains why everyone should despise the monarchy and the queen pic.twitter.com/UNG834aZci
— ☀️👀 (@zei_squirrel) September 9, 2022
Robert Smith of The Cure after being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019 pic.twitter.com/6xzI3gEhP5
— Pigeons & Planes (@PigsAndPlans) August 11, 2022
photos credit: Zoran Veselinovic/Avalon and Getty
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