Robert Smith, The Cure’s singer, said that Ticketmaster will reimburse some fans for the excessive fees he felt were being charged by the company.
Smith tweeted a series Tuesday and Wednesday saying that the band wanted to keep their tickets for the “Shows Of A Lost World Tour” at a fair price.
The band had stated before tickets were put up for sale that they had a range in prices and were working closely with ticketing companies to prevent scalpers, reduce resellers, and maintain ticket prices at their face value.
Some fans shared photos on social media of the skyrocketing prices, including facility fees and service fees. One photo revealed that fees alone amounted to more than $80 for four tickets.
Smith also posted a separate blog post on Thursday. He said that he had had additional conversations with Ticketmaster about the fees and that Ticketmaster had offered to refund tickets purchased by fans. Smith posted that tickets will be charged lower in the future.
Ticketmaster stated that fees are not under its control, but it keeps a portion to cover operating costs. The majority of fees are set by venues, according to Ticketmaster’s blog post.
“Also, venues must pay a lot of expenses. These include hiring staff, maintaining a growing cost to put on shows, such as building upgrades, insurance, paying suppliers, and maintaining a stable cash flow. Ticketmaster stated that venues could have to charge more rent per night for artists, which could lead to higher ticket prices.
The company did not respond immediately to a Friday request for comment.
As fans struggle to get tickets, Ticketmaster has been under intense scrutiny in recent months. It cancelled general sale tickets for Taylor Swift’s tour in November because of high demand for Verified Fan sales. This resulted in “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.” In December, fans sued Live Nation Entertainment (the parent company of Ticketmaster).
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in order to examine Ticketmaster’s role in ticketing and asked whether Live Nation’s merger in 2010 had unfairly affected customers.
