The Pop Corporation

K-Pop stans and The Cure might seem like unlikely pals, but along with Taylor Swift’s ‘Swifties’, they’ve all got one common enemy – Ticketmaster. The two pop fanbases are rabid and have been burned by Ticketmaster prices, and the extortionate fees they impose on shows. Add to the scenario, some middle aged people who love complaining, the ticket company may be looking at quite the formidable foe.

Let’s be honest – whoever brings Ticketmaster down, we all owe them a pint. They’ve become the common enemy across arena music shows, festivals, sporting events – you name it, there’s a fanbase who hates them.

The Cure announced some big ol’ gigs and tried to keep ticket prices down, but Ticketmaster being Ticketmaster, they saw a way around it. Robert Smith took to Twitter to address the whole thing and he’s not happy. Insert your own joke about him never being happy. We wouldn’t dare be so lazy and besides, he’s very dry and funny.

He said: “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.” For the record, he wrote them all in caps like an old man, and there’s something quite charming about that.

Tickets for The Cure’s shows were going for as low as $20 (£16), but Ticketmaster saw an opportunity to make some quick bucks even though they’d made assurances that tickets would be affordable with the band.

He’s tweeted about this whole thing before, referring to the whole thing as a “greedy scam”, lambasting ‘dynamic pricing’ and ‘platinum’ deals and all that grim stuff that has 100% sucked the joy out of buying tickets for a thing you want to go to. “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,”

Thanks to the outrage, fans of The Cure have landed themselves partial refunds on Ticketmaster’s preposterous fees. Smith’s complaints must have been heard, as the frontman confirmed there’d be some money making its way back to fans.

He said: “After further conversation, Ticketmaster have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged were unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for lowest ticket price (‘ltp’) transactions.”

“And a $5 ticket refund to all verified fan accounts for all other ticket price transactions, for all Cure shows at all venues; if you already bought a ticket you will get an automatic refund. All tickets on sale tomorrow will incur lower fees.” Click here to read Smith’s words.

While this is a win, it’s a small and possibly brief win. We’re weeks away from another band announcing some shows and fans getting rinsed. Something clearly needs to be done, because we can’t rely on bands doing the grunt work for audiences.

Of course, the powers that be turn slower than a steamroller in a cul-de-sac, but turning they are. There’s been a Senate hearing in the States, a number of lawsuits, an antitrust investigation, and scores of people openly criticising them. Naturally, if all musicians stopped dealing with them, this would speed things up, but you get the impression that there’s more red tape and fingers in pies and the whole thing is a murky mess.

Bruce Springsteen and Taylor Swift have used the dynamic pricing system in the past, which has resulted in tickets going for eye-watering amounts of money. A Springsteen fanzine called ‘Backstreets’ closed up shop after running for 43 years in protest over these prices. Taylor Swift has referred to the whole thing as “excruciating”.

Add scalpers to this, and you’re faced with a fanbase across the board that is tired and angry. Something has to give on this whole situation and, honestly, if anyone is going to break this, it’s young pop music fans teaming up with their parents. Moody Cure mum and her K-Pop loving son – we wouldn’t like to take them on.

Watch this space.