The Cure’s Robert Smith bought Ticketmaster to pay again followers

Scoring tickets to look at the Cure carry out stay needs to be identical to heaven … however Ticketmaster has made the method hell for followers. Now, the live-music promoter is providing partial refunds.

Robert Smith of the Cure tweeted to fans on Wednesday that he was “as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘Fees’ debacle,” after followers voiced grievances and posted photographs of their Ticketmaster transactions.

“To be very clear, the artist has no way to limit them,” Smith continued. “I have been asking how they are justified. If I get anything coherent by way of an answer, I will let you all know.”

On Thursday, the Cure frontman up to date followers, and it appeared that his all-caps tirade towards Ticketmaster labored.

“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 transactions,” Smith tweeted.

“And a $5 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions, for all Cure shows at all venues,” he continued. “If you already bought a ticket you will get an automatic refund; all tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees.”

The English post-punk, new wave band aimed to maintain ticket prices reasonably priced, with some as little as $20. But followers shared screenshots of Ticketmaster buying baskets during which exorbitant added charges had been tacked on for his or her U.S. tour.

Pop artist Tim Burgess shared a shot of the added prices on Twitter.

“So @thecure and @RobertSmith wanted to keep ticket prices at a reasonable level for fans on their upcoming North American tour dates. Of course @Ticketmaster absolutely rinsed them with ridiculous extra charges,” Burgess tweeted. “wtf even is a service fee or a facility charge or processing fee??”

In the screenshot of his transaction, it confirmed he had added 4 tickets at $20 a pop to his cart. Then Ticketmaster added a service payment of $11.65 to every ticket, plus an added facility cost of $10 per ticket, after which an order processing payment of $5.50. In the tip, his buy of 4 tickets value him $172.10, practically $100 greater than the tickets had been marketed for.

Times columnist Suzy Exposito was among the many Cure followers tweeting whereas she tried to purchase tickets: “lol no wonder the Swifties are suing Ticketmaster. Getting tickets for the Cure has been a clown show, error messages and blank windows galore,” she said earlier than tweeting once more 40 minutes later, “Alas, the Goth Gods have smiled upon me. After 10+ attempts, I have Cure tickets!”

But Exposito was one other “verified fan” charged extra charges, amounting to greater than $120 over asking worth.

“We want the tour to be affordable for all fans, and we have a very wide (and we think very fair) range of pricing at every show,” the Cure acknowledged in a March 10 post on Twitter.

“Our ticketing partners have agreed to help us stop scalpers from getting in the way; to help minimise resale and keep prices at face value, tickets for this tour will not be transferable.”

The “Boys Don’t Cry” crooner has been posting frequent updates through Twitter over the past week and mentioned the band didn’t conform to Ticketmaster’s “dynamic pricing,” “price surging,” “platinum ticket” mannequin, calling it “a bit of scam.”

According to Smith, the band had ultimate say within the ticket pricing for his or her upcoming Shows of a Lost World tour, which contains a three-night keep on the Hollywood Bowl on May 23-25. They didn’t need ticket costs “instantly and horribly distorted by resale.”

He additionally wrote that the group was satisfied that Ticketmaster’s “verified fan page” and “face value ticket exchange” system — during which followers register for an opportunity to be given a novel buying code previous to presale — would assist combat the scalpers.

Smith mentioned he would replace followers if he bought extra details about the Ticketmaster charges. In the meantime, he was “compelled to note” the “recurring elephant in the room” that if nobody “bought from scalpers . . . then . . . X”

This is the most recent in a outstanding string of debacles with Tickmaster. Ire from artists and followers has been pointed towards the corporate for worth gouging and software program glitches which have induced followers hoping to see Taylor Swift and Bruce Springsteen to both miss out on tickets altogether or face costs reaching the hundreds.

In December, 26 burned Swifties filed a lawsuit towards Ticketmaster, alleging that its guardian firm (Live Nation Entertainment Inc.) engaged in fraud, price-fixing and antitrust-law violations in addition to “intentionally and purposefully mislead[ing] ticket purchasers by allowing scalpers and bots access to TaylorSwiftTix presale.”

“The public brought all this on itself,” Fred Rosen, the 79-year-old former chief govt of Ticketmaster, informed The Times’ August Brown in January.

“I have no sympathy for people whining about high ticket prices,” he continued, blaming followers who downloaded music with out paying for it throughout the music file-sharing period of Napster. “They helped create this situation where artists have to make all their money on tour. Artists and the market set the prices, and you can’t pay a Motel 6 price and stay at the Four Seasons.”