The Cure’s Robert Smith lashes out at Ticketmaster over ticket fees - promises partial refunds

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Ticketmaster’s extra fees has made The Cure’s Robert Smith see red as he takes on the ticket giant on Twitter.

For anyone who likes to attend concerts, the price hikes over just the last few years makes buying tickets a nightmare. Especially with the current cost of living crisis already draining people’s wallets on unspeakable levels.

The high cost of concerts have seen both fans and artists speak out, with the latest one to join the row is the British goth king Robert Smith. Taking a stab at Ticketmaster over a fee collected on their “Verified Fan” tickets for The Cure’s US tour, the Boys Don’t Cry singer called on the ticket vendor to keep prices down.

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“I am as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘fees’ debacle,” the singer wrote on Twitter. “To be very clear: the artist has no way to limit them.”

Ticketmaster’s ‘hidden fees’ in one case saw the price of two $20 seats increase to $75 just before checkout - an increase of $15 that is not shown on the original ticket price. The company has such control over the ticket and entertainment industry that there is often little musicians can do, as the vendor has a near monopoly.

Ticketmaster has faced backlash recently, and is facing a Senate hearing in the US as well as multiple lawsuits. In December, 26 Taylor Swift fans banded together to file a lawsuit in California against the vendor’s parent company after the disastrous ticket release for Swift’s Era tour.

The debacle led to Ticketmaster cancelling the release of the tickets, saying: “Due to extraordinarily high demands on ticketing systems and insufficient remaining ticket inventory to meet that demand, tomorrow’s public on-sale for Taylor Swift, The Eras Tour has been cancelled.”

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The Cure announced earlier this week that they would use Ticketmaster’s “Verified Fan” system in order to stop ticket scalping, and keep tickets down to face value. But after high fees, tickets ended up costing more than anticipated.

On Thursday (March 16), Smith offered an update: “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 lockets ticket price (‘LTP’) transactions.”

The Cure singer has had his say on Ticketmaster’s fees.The Cure singer has had his say on Ticketmaster’s fees.
The Cure singer has had his say on Ticketmaster’s fees. | Getty Images

The Just Like Heaven singer said anyone who already bought a ticket will receive a refund automatically, and that the prices on general sale tickets would incur lower fees.

The Cure recently toured the UK, where the legendary band performed several new songs. Robert Smith has said the band has two albums on the way, the first one called Songs of a Lost World. No release details have yet been released.

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