The Cure Says Ticketmaster Will Issue Refunds After Fee Complaints

Arts|The Cure Says Ticketmaster Will Issue Refunds After Fee Complaints

The Cure’s frontman, Robert Smith, said connected Thursday that Ticketmaster volition supply $5 and $10 refunds to fans who purchased tickets for the band’s North American circuit aft the set complained to the institution astir precocious fees.

In caller months, Ticketmaster faced accrued disapproval from summons buyers arsenic good arsenic from members of Congress who accused its owner, Live Nation Entertainment, of being a monopoly that hinders contention and harms fans.

Mr. Smith said on Twitter that Ticketmaster would supply the refunds. “Ticketmaster person agreed with america that galore of the fees being charged are unduly high,” helium wrote.

1 OF 2: 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 TO ALL VERIFIED FAN ACCOUNTS FOR LOWEST TICKET PRICE ('LTP’) TRANSACTIONS...

Ticketmaster did not instantly respond to a petition for comment.

Mr. Smith said that radical who had purchased the lowest-priced tickets would automatically person a $10 refund per summons and that each different summons buyers would get a $5 refund. He said that these refunds applied to radical who had purchased tickets arsenic a “verified fan,” a Ticketmaster strategy that requires radical to registry to summation aboriginal entree to summons sales.

Fans who bargain tickets during the wide merchantability connected Friday volition “incur little fees,” he said.

This week connected Twitter, Mr. Smith addressed questions and concerns from fans astir buying tickets for the 30-show tour, which runs from May to July and includes 3 performances astatine Madison Square Garden successful New York successful June.

The Cure had said successful an earlier statement that it wanted tickets “to beryllium affordable for each fans.” As portion of this effort, Mr. Smith said that the Cure had refused to enactment successful Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system, which adjusts summons prices based connected demand.

The strategy was criticized past twelvemonth aft it drove up the cost for Bruce Springsteen tickets, immoderate of which were selling for thousands of dollars.

After tickets for the Cure’s circuit went connected merchantability connected Wednesday, fans shared screenshots that showed tickets priced astatine $20 with added fees close to oregon above the $20 basal price.

Mr. Smith said connected Twitter aboriginal that time that helium was “sickened” by Ticketmaster’s fees.

“I person been asking however they are justified,” helium wrote successful each superior letters, his accustomed Twitter penning style. “If I get thing coherent by mode of an reply I volition fto you each know.”

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment person been nether accrued scrutiny since November, erstwhile the institution botched its planned nationalist sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s latest tour.

In November, the Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment focused connected whether it had abused its powerfulness implicit the unrecorded euphony industry.

In December, 26 of Ms. Swift’s fans filed a lawsuit accusing Live Nation Entertainment of anticompetitive behaviour and fraud.

In January, the institution was the taxable of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing successful which senators from some parties criticized the company’s handling of tickets income for Ms. Swift’s circuit arsenic good arsenic its wider concern practices.

Last month, connected the aforesaid time Live Nation Entertainment announced it had made $651.3 cardinal successful summons gross successful the 4th fourth of 2022, the institution responded to politicians in a statement.

The company, which sold much than 550 cardinal tickets past year, said it had submitted much than 35 pages of accusation to policymakers to supply discourse connected the “realities of the industry” that it has dominated since Ticketmaster and Live Nation, an events promoter and venue operator, merged successful 2010.

“These see the information that this manufacture is much competitory than ever: Ticketmaster has really mislaid marketplace stock since the 2010 merger, not gained it; that venues acceptable and support astir of the fees associated with tickets and are progressively taking an ever-larger share; and Ticketmaster has for years been advocating for a national all-in pricing requirement,” the connection said.

Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment person for decades been criticized for their concern practices. The Justice Department said successful 2019 that Live Nation Entertainment had “repeatedly violated” the presumption of the regulatory statement that the authorities imposed arsenic a information of the merger.

The Justice Department investigated complaints of anti-competitive practices by Ticketmaster successful the 1990s, aft a dispute with the Seattle grunge set Pearl Jam.