Ticketmaster

Fans of the British band complain that the event company's charges exceed the face value of concert tickets.

The Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel earlier this year held a hearing over whether Live Nation Entertainment — the company that owns Ticketmaster — and several other ticket service providers violated laws to preserve competition and [should be broken up](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-fans-and-congress-take-on-ticketmaster/). [as well as a lawsuit](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-fans-sue-ticketmaster-eras-tour-ticket-sales/), when it canceled a public sale of Taylor Swift tour tickets after sky-high demand caused its website to crash. [abused its power](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ticketmaster-live-nation-under-investigation-by-department-of-justice/) over the multibillion-dollar concert industry. "If I get anything coherent by way of an answer I will let you all know." The group also wrote on its [tweeted](https://twitter.com/RobertSmith/status/1636188988238077953?s=20) that he was "sickened" by the Ticketmaster fee "debacle" and had no control over the site's charges.

Anyone who attempted to purchase Verified Fan presale tickets for The Cure on Wednesday was met with an array of added fees.

In a letter to the DOJ, the group of bipartisan senators wrote, “For too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have wielded monopoly power anticompetitively, harming fans and artists alike.” The letter followed a January hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee that delved into the Taylor Swift ticketing debacle. The move prompted disappointed Swifties to file a class-action lawsuit accusing Ticketmaster of fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations. 23, members of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee overseeing competition policy urged the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division to investigate Live Nation and Ticketmaster over concerns they hold monopoly power. On Twitter, Smith referred to these higher price ticket levels as “a greedy scam.” Fans would instead be able to resell them on a face-value ticket exchange. That's $27.15 in fees on a $20 ticket.

The legendary New Wave band, set to head out on a North American tour, began selling tickets through Ticketmaster's Verified Fan sale on Wednesday. But fees ...

To be very clear: the artist has no way to limit them.” The legendary New Wave band, set to head out on a North American tour, began selling tickets through Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan sale on Wednesday. Smith said the band chose not to use Ticketmaster’s “dynamic” or “platinum pricing model, and some tickets sold for as low as $20.

Robert Smith is sickened; if only there were a Cure. Hours after Ticketmaster began the “verified fan” process on March 15 to distribute tickets for the ...

(He also called dynamic pricing a [scam](https://twitter.com/RobertSmith/status/1635818746190102530), which, indeed so.) This Cure saga serves as a reminder that the Biden administration is attempting to weaken the power of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which [hold a substantial monopoly](https://www.vulture.com/2023/01/ticketmaster-senate-hearing-live-nation-recap.html) over the concert industry. Despite Smith and the band eschewing a demand-driven “dynamic pricing” payment structure for the tour, which most recently [enraged Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift’s respective fanbases](https://www.vulture.com/2022/07/bruce-springsteen-ticketmaster-prices-response.html), as well as designating all tickets nontransferable, Smith admitted that scalpers were still able to get a fair share of tickets for the resale market. In February, the White House [proposed the Junk Fee Protection Act](https://www.vulture.com/2023/02/concert-ticket-junk-fees-biden.html), aiming to “prohibit excessive fees, require the fees to be disclosed in the ticket price, and mandate disclosure of any ticket holdbacks that diminish available supply.” Whether it’s on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or that other day. [virality](https://twitter.com/_carrrmen/status/1636008176431640578) for showcasing the extent of the company’s malpractice: A fan’s reasonable ticket price of $20 was more than doubled due to processing fees and charges. I will be back if I get anything serious on the TM fees.” [American tour](https://www.vulture.com/2023/03/the-cure-tour-dates.html) in years — an additional layer of security that Smith [insisted upon](https://consequence.net/2023/03/the-cure-tickets-affordable/) to prevent scalpers and unaffordable prices — the front man wrote an angry screed against the company for the mandatory fees they snuck in for buyers.

After several days filled with complaints about excessive fees on the $20 tickets to see The Cure – including complaints from its frontman Robert Smith – a ...

Their “Shows of a Lost World” tour has a three-night stay at the Hollywood Bowl on May 23-25. [Rolling Stone reports ](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/ticketmaster-refunds-the-cure-on-sale-fees-1234698483/)this evening that Ticketmaster is giving a discount on its fees that more than doubled the price of a ticket to see The Cure. That led to a total of $172.10 on four $20 tickets sold for $80.

The band member took to Twitter to address fans' complaints about being hit with excessive fees while trying to buy tickets to The Cure's upcoming tour ...

Ticketmaster and Live Nation's parent company Live Nation Entertainment is also the subject of a separate antitrust investigation by the Justice Department for abuse of power. The Cure debacle has been only the latest in a long line of controversies for Ticketmaster over questionable business tactics. The program had previously enraged fans of both Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen for causing tickets prices to surge by thousands of dollars, sparking protests over the exorbitant amount of hidden mandatory fees the company had been charging.

Ticketing giant will refund $10 to fans who bought cheapest tickets on the band's US tour, and $5 to everyone else after frontman asks for an explanation.

Swift [described the situation as “excruciating”](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/18/taylor-swift-tickets-ticketmaster-live-nation-us-justice-department), while the US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for a break-up of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which merged in 2010, calling it a “monopoly”. The band had purposefully kept tickets affordable, with some as low as $20 (£16). [the US Senate held a hearing](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/24/ticketmaster-taylor-swift-eras-tour-ticket-chaos-us-senate-antitrust-hearing) about the company to hear testimony about ticket sales, monopolisation, resale markets and Ticketmaster’s influence on the live music industry. “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,” he wrote. [it cancelled the general sale](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/nov/17/tennessee-ticketmaster-investigation-taylor-swift-tickets) for tickets for Swift’s Eras tour because demand for the verified fan sale had left “insufficient remaining ticket inventory”. [On Thursday, Smith told fans](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/16/the-cure-robert-smith-tells-fans-he-is-sickened-by-ticketmaster-fees-as-us-tour-goes-on-sale?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other) that he was “as sickened as you all are” and he would contact Ticketmaster after many took to social media to complain about the ticket sales behemoth’s additional fees.

Robert Smith, lead singer of English rock band The Cure, said Ticketmaster will give partial refunds after some concertgoers were charged more in service ...

First Ticketmaster provoked the ire of Swifties — fans of pop star Taylor Swift — and now it's coming for another group of devotees in decidedly darker ...

In a letter to the DOJ, the group of bipartisan senators wrote, “For too long, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have wielded monopoly power anticompetitively, harming fans and artists alike.” The letter followed a January hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee that delved into the Taylor Swift ticketing debacle. The move prompted disappointed Swifties to file a class-action lawsuit accusing Ticketmaster of fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations. 23, members of a Senate Judiciary subcommittee overseeing competition policy urged the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division to investigate Live Nation and Ticketmaster over concerns they hold monopoly power. On Twitter, Smith referred to these higher price ticket levels as “a greedy scam.” Fans would instead be able to resell them on a face-value ticket exchange. That's $27.15 in fees on a $20 ticket.

The announcement came a day after Smith shared his frustrations with Ticketmaster, saying he was "sickened" by the company's fees. Fans who bought Cure ...

A day before the tickets were set to open to the general public, the company canceled the sale due to "extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand." The announcement came a day after Smith shared his frustration on Twitter, saying he was "as sickened as you all are by today's Ticketmaster 'fees' debacle. "After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high," Smith tweeted.

The band said it wanted to make its North American tour “affordable for all,” but after tickets went on sale this week, fans said that fees had ratcheted up ...

[close to](https://twitter.com/daviddancer/status/1636134437514784768) or [above](https://twitter.com/jakemorell/status/1636109817948385282) the $20 base price. [10th studio album](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/arts/music/taylor-swift-midnights.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-taylor-swift&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc), is a return to the pop pipeline, with production from her longtime collaborator Jack Antonoff. Smith](https://twitter.com/RobertSmith/status/1636188988238077953) said on Twitter later that day that he was “sickened” by Ticketmaster’s fees. [said in an earlier statement](https://twitter.com/thecure/status/1634188920911962113) that it wanted tickets “to be affordable for all fans.” As part of this effort, [Mr. “I have been asking how they are justified,” he wrote in all capital letters, his usual Twitter writing style. He said that these refunds applied to people who had purchased tickets as a “verified fan,” a Ticketmaster system that requires people to register to gain early access to ticket sales. [a judge dismissed the case](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/12/arts/music/taylor-swift-shake-it-off-lawsuit.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-taylor-swift&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). [Folklore](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/arts/music/taylor-swift-folklore-youth.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-taylor-swift&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc)” and “ [Evermore](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/11/arts/music/taylor-swift-evermore-review.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-taylor-swift&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc).” In debuting a new sound, she turned to [indie music](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/03/10/magazine/taylor-swift.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-taylor-swift&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). Smith said that people who had purchased the lowest-priced tickets would automatically receive a $10 refund per ticket and that all other ticket buyers would get a $5 refund. “Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high,” he wrote. Here is [what our critic thought of it](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/21/arts/music/taylor-swift-midnights-review.html?action=click&pgtype=Article&state=default&module=styln-taylor-swift&variant=show®ion=MAIN_CONTENT_1&block=storyline_top_links_recirc). Smith said](https://twitter.com/RobertSmith/status/1636073365373956100) that the Cure had refused to participate in Ticketmaster’s [dynamic pricing](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/arts/music/pay-what-you-can-classical-performance.html) system, which adjusts ticket prices based on demand.

The lead singer of the new wave band said Ticketmaster will be giving partial refunds after some ticket buyers for his band's US tour were charged more in ...

Other ticket buyers will get a $5 refund. The Cure wanted to make their concerts accessible, charging $20 to verified fans. Smith took to Twitter to explain that the lowest-priced seats will get a refund of $10 per ticket.

Robert Smith of The Cure complained after Ticketmaster fees hiked prices on tour tickets prompting the company to issue refunds for certain tickets.

"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 price ticket ('LPT') transactions … and Canada kicking off May 10 – at affordable rates. Per fans, some purchases more than [doubled in price because of fees](https://twitter.com/LAmag/status/1636103735557636097). "I am as sickened as you all are by today's Ticketmaster 'fees' debacle," Smith wrote Wednesday in all caps. Department of Justice](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/11/18/ticketmaster-concerns-what-to-know-concert-tickets-taylor-swift/10728296002/), comes months after Ticketmaster made headlines [canceling a general ticket sale](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/11/17/taylor-swift-ticketmaster-axes-tour-public-sale-high-demands/10721887002/) for [Taylor Swift's](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/03/16/taylor-swift-new-songs-ahead-eras-tour-launch/11485575002/) Eras [tour](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/03/14/taylor-swift-eras-tour-albums-films-since-reputation-tour/11428040002/) in November. [their Shows Of A Lost World Tour](https://www.thecure.com/shows/) – which includes 30 dates across the U.S. [How dynamic pricing works and how you can beat the system.](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/08/17/springsteen-ticketmaster-dynamic-pricing-infuriates-music-fans/10310415002/) [Taylor Swift Ticketmaster debacle ramps up federal concerns, fans about tour tickets](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/11/18/ticketmaster-concerns-what-to-know-concert-tickets-taylor-swift/10728296002/) [on Twitter](https://twitter.com/RobertSmith/status/1636188988238077953) about Ticketmaster fees on what the [group intended to be affordable tickets](https://twitter.com/thecure/status/1634188920911962113) for its Shows Of A Lost World Tour. [Robert Smith of The Cure](https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2014/05/02/25-years-later-the-cures-disintegration-legacy-endures/8572123/) took to If I get anything coherent by way of an answer I will let you all know." [Ticketmaster](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/11/18/ticketmaster-concerns-what-to-know-concert-tickets-taylor-swift/10728296002/) is in hot water, yet again.

Before tickets went on sale, the band had said that they had a range of prices at every show and were working with ticketing companies to stop scalpers, ...

Fans [sued](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/taylor-swift-fans-sue-ticketmaster-fumbled-presale-rcna60014) Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, in December. In most cases, venues set and keep the fees, the company said in a Feb. If these fees went down, venues may have to charge artists more nightly rent, which would likely result in higher face value ticket prices,” Ticketmaster's post said. Ticketmaster has said that it does not control fees but does keep a portion for operating costs. Going forward, tickets will have lower fees, he posted. In a separate post on Thursday, Smith said that he had further conversations about the fees, and Ticketmaster had agreed to refund fans who had already bought a ticket.