The Cure frontman Robert Smith lashed out at Ticketmaster late Wednesday over fees the company is charging fans for tickets to the band’s upcoming tour.
“I AM AS SICKENED AS YOU ALL ARE BY TODAY'S TICKETMASTER 'FEES' DEBACLE. TO BE VERY CLEAR: THE ARTIST HAS NO WAY TO LIMIT THEM. I HAVE BEEN ASKING HOW THEY ARE JUSTIFIED. IF I GET ANYTHING COHERENT BY WAY OF AN ANSWER I WILL LET YOU ALL KNOW,” the singer wrote in a Twitter tirade.
The Cure announced last week they are bringing the Songs of a Lost World Tour to North America, including stops in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in June. A Ticketmaster Verified Fan Sale began Wednesday.
The band had promised to offer reasonable ticket prices and no “platinum” or “dynamically priced” tickets. It also said tickets would be non-transferable to crack down on resale and scalping.
But, fans quickly discovered that Ticketmaster fees – service, facility and order processing – were in some cases higher than the ticket prices.
"WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER'S ‘Verified Fan Page’ AND ‘Face Value Ticket Exchange’ IDEAS COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS,” Smith tweeted on Tuesday. “(WE DIDN’T AGREE TO THE 'DYNAMIC PRICING' / 'PRICE SURGING’ / ‘PLATINUM TICKET' THING... BECAUSE IT IS ITSELF A BIT OF A SCAM? A SEPARATE CONVERSATION!
“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…”
Smith blasted Platinum tickets as “a greedy scam” and added: “ALL ARTISTS HAVE THE CHOICE NOT TO PARTICIPATE... IF NO ARTISTS PARTICIPATED, IT WOULD CEASE TO EXIST.”
The Cure, formed in 1978, has released 13 studio albums that spawned hits like “Boys Don’t Cry,” “Lovesong” and “Close to Me.” They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.