Ahead of The Cure’s upcoming tour, which includes a stop in Tampa, Robert Smith took to Twitter to blast ticket scalping and Ticketmaster’s fees.
On Tuesday, the band announced their upcoming tour will use Ticketmaster’s “verified fan” system in an effort to reduce scalping.
He went on to say the band declined to use Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing and platinum tickets, calling it a “greedy scam.”
Once tickets went on sale, Smith noticed several tickets did end up in the hands of online resale marketplaces for much-higher prices than face value.
“WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER’S ‘Verified Fan Page’ AND ‘Face Value Ticket Exchange’ IDEA COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS,” Smith wrote on Twitter.
Ticketmaster takes an order processing fee in addition to a service fee — which also irked Smith in addition to multiple Cure fans posting screenshots of the fees.
“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,” Smith wrote.
Ticketmaster has been under recent fire following the online sale of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour, which kicks off Friday in Arizona.
In November, the Justice Department opened an anti-trust investigation into Live Nation Entertainment — which was created in 2010 after Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged.
Smith said he was told Stubhub pulled all resale tickets for shows in cities except Chicago, New York and Denver. He urged fans not to buy from scalpers.
The Cure play the United Center on Saturday, June 10. The cheapest ticket to get on Stubhub is $130 before fees.
WGN News reached out to Ticketmaster for a statement and have not heard back at this time.
