Robert Smith Acknowledges Problems With The Cure’s US Ticketing Strategy

We're in a strange new age now. The concert industry has spent decades finding newer, more efficient ways to separate fans from money, and whenever a popular act attempts to mount a large-scale tour without gouging its fans, complications ensue. That's happening with the Cure right now.

Last week, the Cure announced a large-scale North American tour. In that announcement, the band promised "no ‘platinum’ or ‘dynamically priced’ tickets on this tour." The band also explained that the tickets for the shows wouldn't be transferable; if you buy one, you can only sell it for face value. In an effort to keep ticket prices reasonable, the band agreed to Ticketmaster's Verified Fan plan, which is designed to keep scalpers and bots from snapping up all the tickets but which can make the task of buying tickets more complicated.

Two days ago, the Cure's frontman Robert Smith warned fans about the scammer sites attempting to sell secondary-market tickets: "ALL THE 'SECONDARY TICKET MARKET' SITES SHOWING INSANELY PRICED CURE TICKETS ARE A CON - NOT ONE OF THESE SCAMMERS HAS A GENUINE TICKET FOR SALE - PLEASE DON'T FALL FOR IT - WAIT TO SEE HOW YOU GET ON THROUGH THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION CHANNEL."

https://twitter.com/RobertSmith/status/1635375369271508993

Last night, Robert Smith tweeted more about the band's ticketing strategy, acknowledging that it's still not terribly easy for fans to buy tickets. Given his all-caps style, it seems like he probably did some copy-pasting from emails, too. Here's what he wrote:

TM HAVE JUST TOLD ME "ALL tickets for The Cure Shows Of A Lost World Tour will be made available during tomorrow’s Verified Fan Sale" SEEMS THE RESPONSE TO REGISTRATION HAS BEEN PRETTY OVERWHELMING - THANKS! HOWEVER, I REALISE THERE ARE PROBLEMS, SOME MORE REAL THAN OTHERS...

WE HAD FINAL SAY IN ALL OUR TICKET PRICING FOR THIS UPCOMING TOUR, AND DIDN’T WANT THOSE PRICES INSTANTLY AND HORRIBLY DISTORTED BY RESALE - WE WERE TOLD "In North America the resale business is a multi-billion $ industry.

The touts are sophisticated businesses that are expert at acquiring tickets, and the major marketplaces like Vivid, Stubhub and Seatgeek spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing. The touts get an unfair share of tickets and resell them on these marketplaces."

WE WERE TOLD “Ticketmaster's Verified Fan platform has been used more than 400 times to qualify buyers and reduce the % of tickets on the secondary market.

WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER'S "Verified Fan Page” AND "Face Value Ticket Exchange” IDEAS COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS

(WE DIDN’T AGREE TO THE 'DYNAMIC PRICING' / 'PRICE SURGING’ / ‘PLATINUM TICKET' THING... BECAUSE IT IS ITSELF A BIT OF A SCAM? A SEPARATE CONVERSATION!)

WE KNOW IT IS A FAR FROM PERFECT SYSTEM - BUT THE REALITY IS THAT IF THERE AREN’T ENOUGH TICKETS ONSALE, 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…

...AND/OR WE SHOULD PLAY MORE/BIGGER SHOWS? HA!!! ONWARDS...

HAVE BEEN TOLD "We will continue to sell tickets to those who are verified until there are no more tickets to sell" -X

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If you want to buy tickets to a Cure show, then, you'll probably have to jump through those Verified Fan hoops. Obviously, Ticketmaster and American regulators can do a whole lot more to make the ticket-buying process less of a nightmare. Ultimately, though, it seems like the "more/bigger shows" answer is the only thing that'll allow everyone to see the shows that they want to see, and you can probably understand why the Cure might not want to be on the road 365 days a year.