Ticket Fees For The Cure Bring Ticketmaster More Fan Fury

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March 15, 2023
Dave Clark 0

Ticketmaster was once again the villain on social media this week, as fans of The Cure vented their frustration over the ticket purchasing process for the band’s upcoming tour dates in North America. The Cure had actually gone along with most of Ticketmaster’s restrictive systems, saying they were hoping to keep ticket prices low for their fans by leveraging the hated “verified fan” system and telling the promoter and ticketing agent not to employ “dynamic” or “platinum” ticket surge pricing systems, which singer Robert Smith called out as “A GREEDY SCAM”.

Fans who got through the “lottery” of the verified fan system complained that the band’s efforts at keeping price low were thwarted by absurd fees (in at least one instance, fees totaled more than 100% of the ticket price), and many others complained about the lottery itself, which boxed them out from any hope of purchasing tickets.

the cure deliberately kept ticket prices low and @Ticketmaster was like “lol bet” and charges more in fees than the band is for the actual show pic.twitter.com/Ig0U5Ywcpw

— frank costanza’s lawyer (@_carrrmen) March 15, 2023

Naturally, many of those fees are actually going back to the band or the venue, as that is how ticket fees are structured. But another public black eye for the entertainment giant, under fire from fans for months over surge pricing and the overall terrible experience that ticket buying as become over the years and under significant scrutiny from lawmakers who might be considering breaking the giant up, is the last thing it needed.

When you are When you are
screwed out of screwed out of
Taylor Swift tickets The Cure tickets
by Ticketmaster: by Ticketmaster: pic.twitter.com/jkLjvhWH4x

— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) March 15, 2023

goths and swifties united against ticketmaster pic.twitter.com/55XTmYjOFV

— Jill_Krajewski on IG (@JillKrajewski) March 15, 2023

Dedicating this one to all The Cure fans on Ticketmaster today – Pinky pic.twitter.com/hZSYNvpsj7

— Puddles Pity Party (@PuddlesPityP) March 15, 2023

On the eve of Wednesday’s sale of The Cure concert tickets, band leader Robert Smith took to social media to try to explain the band’s reasoning for going all-in with so many of Ticketmaster’s policies, which required them to pre-register their interest to purchase tickets, and stripped them of their right to transfer or resell tickets outside of Ticketmaster’s system except in the handful of states like New York, Illinois, and Colorado where laws prevent the primary box office from restricting transfer or resale to their own platform.

TM HAVE JUST TOLD ME “ALL tickets for The Cure Shows Of A Lost World Tour will be made available during tomorrow’s Verified Fan Sale” SEEMS THE RESPONSE TO REGISTRATION HAS BEEN PRETTY OVERWHELMING – THANKS! HOWEVER, I REALISE THERE ARE PROBLEMS, SOME MORE REAL THAN OTHERS…

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023

Smith continued sharing more details via Twitter, seeming to write his own thoughts in ALL CAPS and pasting in direct lines from Ticketmaster at times (you can tell by the changed case). He seemed to hedge on the band’s usage of the system, effectively telling his own fans that the industry giant dictated how they should do things and they were going along with it, despite their own reservations.

WE HAD FINAL SAY IN ALL OUR TICKET PRICING FOR THIS UPCOMING TOUR, AND DIDN’T WANT THOSE PRICES INSTANTLY AND HORRIBLY DISTORTED BY RESALE – WE WERE TOLD “In North America the resale business is a multi-billion $ industry.

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023

The touts are sophisticated businesses that are expert at acquiring tickets, and the major marketplaces like Vivid, Stubhub and Seatgeek spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing. The touts get an unfair share of tickets and resell them on these marketplaces.”

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023

WE WERE TOLD “Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform has been used more than 400 times to qualify buyers and reduce the % of tickets on the secondary market.

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 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

WE KNOW IT IS A FAR FROM PERFECT SYSTEM – BUT THE REALITY IS THAT IF THERE AREN’T ENOUGH TICKETS ONSALE, A NUMBER OF FANS ARE GOING TO MISS OUT WHATEVER SYSTEM WE USE; AT LEAST THIS ONE TRIES TO GET TICKETS INTO THE HANDS OF FANS AT A FAIR PRICE…

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023

…AND/OR WE SHOULD PLAY MORE/BIGGER SHOWS? HA!!! ONWARDS…

— ROBERT SMITH (@RobertSmith) March 15, 2023

Later, he specifically called out the usage of “dynamic pricing” which has been so controversial as it has continued to be adopted by more and more acts to the anger of their fans, perhaps most notably Bruce Springsteen’s. Smith minced no words about the practice, calling it “A GREEDY SCAM” and rightly saying that it’s artists who choose to use the systems, though no doubt egged on by their promoters and Ticketmaster, all of whom stand to make a far greater cut of ticket sales when prices are maximized.

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

Supposedly, at The Cure’s insistence, every ticket for their North American shows was being put on sale Wednesday to those who have been approved for the Verified Fan purchase option. If that is the case, it would be a dramatic change from the usual business of holding back substantial percentages of tickets for every stop to then slowly drip onto the market to keep prices high – but it makes sense if the band attempted to keep prices low, fees surged or no.

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Last Updated on March 15, 2023 by Dave Clark

https://www.ticketnews.com/2023/03/ticket-fees-for-the-cure-bring-ticketmaster-more-fan-fury/