The Cure’s Robert Smith has successfully lobbied ticketing giant Ticketmaster to refund some of its fees to fans who recently bought tickets for the band’s upcoming US tour.
Taking to Twitter after the tickets went on sale, Smith complained about the "unduly high" booking fees that, in some cases, added up to more than the price of the ticket itself. As has been the case with a number of The Cure’s tours in recent years, the band had ensured that the base price of tickets was affordable, with some available for as little as $20.
After fans took to social media to share screenshots of varying additional booking fees across different venues, Smith wrote on Twitter that he was "as sickened as you all are" by the extra charges. One such screenshot, for a $20 ticket, showed an additional service fee of $11.65, as well as a facility charge of $10 and an order processing fee of $5.50.
Smith continued: "I have been asking how [the fees] are justified. If I get anything coherent by way of an answer I will let you all know."
After contacting Ticketmaster, he and the ticketing company reached an agreement to automatically refund $10 to fans who bought the cheapest tickets available for the tour, and $5 to those who purchased the others. Smith also revealed that future ticket sales for The Cure’s shows would incur lower fees under the terms of his agreeing with the company.
Smith had previously revealed via Twitter that the band had chosen to use Ticketmaster to sell tickets in an effort to combat scalping. They had, however, declined to participate in the company’s dynamic pricing and Platinum ticket schemes as they didn’t want ticket prices to be "instantly and horribly distorted by resale."
The dynamic pricing system has recently seen tickets for in-demand tours by artists like Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift be resold via Ticketmaster for thousands of dollars. Fans will be able to resell their tickets for The Cure’s US tour via Ticketmaster’s face value exchange programme instead.
