Ticketmaster will give Cure fans a refund after Robert Smith said he was ‘sickened’ by its additional charges and demanded an explanation

At first I figured the fees would be like $5 or something high for a digital download, but this should be downright illegal:

>The Cure priced some of its tickets as low as $20. But screenshots of Ticketmaster shopping baskets shared on Twitter showed additional fees that came to just over $47: a “service fee” of $11.65, a “facility charge” of $10, and an overall order processing fee of $5.50.

I remember when Pearl Jam went up against Ticketmaster and got smacked down. Ticketmaster has only gotten more powerful and greedier since then.

From the article: Ticketmaster will refund “unduly high” fees to Cure fans after lead singer Robert Smith said he was “sickened” by the charges and demanded an explanation.

Smith tweeted Thursday: “I am as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘fees’ debacle.”

The singer, who routinely tweets in capital letters, said that while artists had no say about its additional charges, he would ask if they could be “justified.”

Smith posted an update later Thursday: “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.”

Fuck. I’m sooooo tired of greedy assholes.

Close that shit down once and for all

Fuck tixketmaster. I had 3 tickets to monster truck show for my kids. $30 eaxh and I had 30% discount code on top. Ended up paying $165 after discount.

It’s terrible, but the only way to fix this (that will actually work) is stop seeing shows that Ticketmaster vends. The government is going to ultimately do nothing except “antitrust theatre” and make no changes at all. We continue to reward bad behavior, we will continue to get bad behavior.

Good on Robert. I’m glad I saw them in the US before Ticketmaster got a greedy monopoly, and in Europe where Ticketmaster didn’t matter.

Ticketmaster doing everything they can to keep live shows from recovering after COVID, I guess they’re really worried about another outbreak, way to be socially responsible

I bought a ticket to a big band show for 6€ today and had to pay a 1,50€ “E-ticket charge”. I was made to pay for pixels on screen. There was no choice for a physical ticket.

Boys don’t cry (until they see the fees)

Someone give Robert Smith an award. Keys to the city. The recipe to nana’s secret spaghetti sauce. Anything to recognize his fight against tyranny

Swifties, take a seat, don’t fuck with Robert Smith. You know, I once saw him take down Barbra Streisand in a small town in Colorado.

Ban Ticketmaster.

I do.

ticket master has been trash for so fucking long, im glad we’re all railing them, together.

let’s do the insurance companies next, pleaaasee

I got tickets for The Cure for $30 each, and then the fee was $17.50 on top of that — 36%.

I also got tickets for Depeche Mode for $400 each and the fee was $64.55 about 14%.

Why are they even a percentage? It’s total bullshit.

Ahh…the good old days sleeping in front of the record shop waiting for it to open to purchase tickets. $25-35

Ticketmaster can burn in hell. Zero/non-existent customer service. Fees are way too high. How has no one madethe same mouse trap yet and charge lower fees???

I was just looking at seats for the second round of the March madness in Greensboro, NC.
Some asshole was reselling handicap seats for $750 ea. Other seats in the section were $120 ish. Seems that may be an ADA violation. These were verified resell seats on ticketmaster.

I feel an easy fix would be to limit these fees to 1X per transaction. Like in example these Cure tickets that are going around online, TM isn’t running a credit card four times, so why tf are they charging four “service fees”

They’ll just charge some other customer base more when nobody’s looking.

If only my presale code worked and I could actually GET a ticket.

I think its time for him to get together with Sidney Poitier and Leonard Maltin and show ticket master who’s boss.

Dumb question- do you have to actually use Ticketmaster as an artist? I remember local venues and even big ones allowed direct sales of tickets from the venue. I used to get Sheas tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls in Buffalo growing up and I didn’t have to use Ticketmaster, direct from the box office. Same goes for the local sports arenas

So Ticketmaster is part of the disease then

So rather than explain themselves they threw the money back? Or did they actually explain themselves?

What are these fees? does ticketmaster setup the events?

That is what monopolies do, impunity incorporated.

Ticket master has been the biggest scam for all types of events.

I just don’t go to shows where I have to buy from Ticketmaster anymore. If I’m completely honest, in my early 30s shows are just so loud and cumbersome (parking, beers cost $10, etc). I’ll go for a band I really really love, but otherwise I am fine with skipping out to avoid getting fucked by Ticketmaster. If I want a live music fix, I’ll find a local band playing for free or a small cover charge.

Waiting to see if we get a refund. Out tickets were $172 and $210 after fees. Outrageous!

People keep complaining about crazy high ticket prices but keep paying them. Artists really not going to say anything because that’s how they make their money now. Because of streaming platforms, they don’t make money on the music itself. Taylor Swift was bitching about how the tickets were sold but not one time complain about the price. But… If people are going to pay it, let them. I haven’t been to a concert since the 90s. But I don’t value music like that. People keep forgetting that we are the consumers. If you feel it’s too high, don’t buy the ticket. But don’t buy the ticket and then bitch about it. They don’t care. You still bought the ticket.

Let’s stop buying tickets

Trust bust please

can the gov compel them to reveal, in great detail, what the fuck all of the various additional fees are actually retained for? and like, reveal the rationale for the costs? is there a scale for the strain on their system per dollar generated in base ticket cost revenue?

If it goes through ticketmaster then i dont go.

This is a great step in the right direction.

HOWEVER

I did not have “The Cure takes down Ticketmaster” on my 2023 bingo card

Good for him. Actually, good for him and his fans.

Why can’t tickets be sold by bands on a blockchain based system?.

Those tickets could be resold over that same network and verified as well.

Racketeering at it finest

I decided a while ago that I don’t want to spend that kind of money on these shoes anymore and instead support local or smaller touring artists. Like pro sports the costs to see this stuff has become absurd.

man thats so cheap for tickets to see the cure, $20, how decent of the band to charge that little.

I just hope in this day and age real fans got the tickets and not resellers.

I’m headed down to the box office tonight to buy some tix, I’ll save like $50 off two.

We have a local club and Graham Nash is playing there. Acts usual only do 1 set and an encore. You have to order a meal. So looking on line Ticketmaster jacks on fees and it quickly becomes a $500 to $600 for an evening for two! Just no. I saw Chicago, Fleetwood Mac, John Denver the first night he sang Country Roads, Roberta Flack, Emmylou Harris, U2, America, Jimmy Buffett, ELO, Steve Martin, and so many other acts adjusted for inflation far far less than what is going to this night club on 2023. Screw Ticketmaster!