The Cure’s frontman, Robert Smith, said on Thursday that Ticketmaster will provide $5 and $10 refunds to fans who purchased tickets for the band’s North American tour after the band complained to the corporate about high fees.
In recent months, Ticketmaster faced increased criticism from ticket buyers in addition to from members of Congress who accused its owner, Live Nation Entertainment, of being a monopoly that hinders competition and harms fans.
Mr. Smith said on Twitter that Ticketmaster would offer the refunds. “Ticketmaster have agreed with us that lots of the fees being charged are unduly high,” he wrote.
Ticketmaster didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Mr. Smith said that folks who had purchased the lowest-priced tickets would routinely receive a $10 refund per ticket and that each one other ticket buyers would get a $5 refund. He said that these refunds applied to individuals who had purchased tickets as a “verified fan,” a Ticketmaster system that requires people to register to realize early access to ticket sales.
Fans who buy tickets in the course of the general sale on Friday will “incur lower fees,” he said.
This week on Twitter, Mr. Smith addressed questions and concerns from fans about buying tickets for the 30-show tour, which runs from May to July and includes three performances at Madison Square Garden in Recent York in June.
The Cure had said in an earlier statement that it wanted tickets “to be inexpensive for all fans.” As a part of this effort, Mr. Smith said that the Cure had refused to take part in Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing system, which adjusts ticket prices based on demand.
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The system was criticized last 12 months after it drove up the associated fee for Bruce Springsteen tickets, a few of which were selling for hundreds of dollars.
After tickets for the Cure’s tour went on sale on Wednesday, fans shared screenshots that showed tickets priced at $20 with added fees near or above the $20 base price.
Mr. Smith said on Twitter later that day that he was “sickened” by Ticketmaster’s fees.
“I actually have been asking how they’re justified,” he wrote in all capital letters, his usual Twitter writing style. “If I get anything coherent by the use of a solution I’ll allow you to all know.”
Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment have been under increased scrutiny since November, when the corporate botched its planned public sale of tickets to Taylor Swift’s latest tour.
In November, the Justice Department opened an antitrust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment focused on whether it had abused its power over the live music industry.
In December, 26 of Ms. Swift’s fans filed a lawsuit accusing Live Nation Entertainment of anticompetitive conduct and fraud.
In January, the corporate was the topic of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing through which senators from each parties criticized the corporate’s handling of ticket sales for Ms. Swift’s tour in addition to its wider business practices.
Last month, on the identical day Live Nation Entertainment announced it had made $651.3 million in ticket revenue within the fourth quarter of 2022, the corporate responded to politicians in an announcement.
The corporate, which sold greater than 550 million tickets last 12 months, said it had submitted greater than 35 pages of data to policymakers to supply context on the “realities of the industry” that it has dominated since Ticketmaster and Live Nation, an events promoter and venue operator, merged in 2010.
“These include the proven fact that this industry is more competitive than ever: Ticketmaster has actually lost market share for the reason that 2010 merger, not gained it; that venues set and keep many of the fees related to tickets and are increasingly taking an ever-larger share; and Ticketmaster has for years been advocating for a federal all-in pricing requirement,” the statement said.
Ticketmaster and Live Nation Entertainment have for a long time been criticized for his or her business practices. The Justice Department said in 2019 that Live Nation Entertainment had “repeatedly violated” the terms of the regulatory agreement that the federal government imposed as a condition of the merger.
The Justice Department investigated complaints of anti-competitive practices by Ticketmaster within the Nineties, after a dispute with the Seattle grunge band Pearl Jam.
