Robert Smith addresses The Cure ticket strategy: “It is a far from perfect system”
Robert Smith of The Cure has explained the band’s choice to use Ticketmaster’s non-transferable ticketing strategy for their upcoming North American tour.
The Cure announced the news on March 10th, noting that tickets for the North American leg would not be transferable. This is to limit resale and “keep prices at face value”. Taking to Twitter, Robert Smith has now elaborated on the band’s ticketing strategy, revealing on Wednesday, March 15th, that Ticketmaster had informed the band that “ALL tickets for The Cure Shows Of A Lost World Tour will be made available during tomorrow’s Verified Fan Sale”.
After thanking fans for their support, Smith went on to address the “real problems” with the Ticketmaster system. Smith explained that the band had been given the “final say” on tour ticket prices and that they are hoping to stop ticket prices from being “instantly and horribly distorted by resale”.
According to Smith, the decision was made with the knowledge that “in North America, the resale business is a multi-billion [dollar] industry”. The Cure were told that Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform would help to reduce scalping by up to 80% and that it had been used “more than 400 times” with great results.
“We were convinced that Ticketmaster’s ‘Verified Fan Page’ and ‘Face Value Ticket Exchange’ ideas could help us fight the scalpers,” Smith continued, clarifying that The Cure had hoped to avoid using the infamous Dynamic Pricing system – one that has caused much disquiet in the Bruce Springsteen fanbase – on the basis that “it itself a bit of a scam”.
“We know it’s a far from perfect system,” Smith concluded, “But the reality is that if there aren’t enough tickets on sale, a number of fans are going to miss out whatever system we use; at least this one tries to get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price”.
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