The Cure singer ‘sickened’ by Ticketmaster fees for tour
- Fans of The Cure are complaining of exorbitant service fees for the band's upcoming tour
- Lead singer Robert Smith said he was "sickened" and that artists have no control over fees
- It comes months after a similar debacle led to a lawsuit filed by Taylor Swift fans
GLASTONBURY, ENGLAND – JUNE 30: Robert Smith of The Cure performs on the Pyramid stage on day five of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Pilton on June 30, 2019 in Glastonbury, England. (Photo by Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
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(NewsNation) — Months after a ticketing debacle sparked a lawsuit from Taylor Swift fans, Ticketmaster is once again under fire for charging customers exorbitant service fees that in some cases exceed the cost of the ticket itself.
This time, it’s fans of English rock band The Cure who are up in arms. They took to social media to voice displeasure over ticketing fees for the band’s upcoming tour in North America.
Some tickets were going for more than double their base price Wednesday after all the fees were added up, CBS News reported.
Robert Smith, the lead singer of the band, says he’s “sickened” by Ticketmaster’s fees, saying that “the artist has no way to limit them.” When announcing the 26-city North American summer tour, the band said in a statement that it aimed for the shows to “be affordable for all fans.”
The band’s website says $10 and $5 refunds are now being given to those who bought tickets.
Ticketmaster in November was forced to cancel ticket sales for Swift’s The Eras tour that kicked off Friday, citing “extraordinarily high demands” and too few tickets. The initial sale window was only supposed to be available to people with a specific presale code, but Ticketmaster said bots and others without a code logged on anyway.
Swift fans sued Ticketmaster and parent company LiveNation, alleging violations of antitrust laws.
The lawsuit claims Ticketmaster profits off the resale of tickets in the secondary market by adding a service fee, and argues Ticketmaster and Live Nation are anti-competitive and force fans to use their site exclusively.
In January, senators grilled Ticketmaster and LiveNation executives, calling on them to do more to protect consumers.
NewsNation reporters Sloane Glass, Brooke Shafer and Katie Smith and The Hill contributed to this report.
