“It’s driven by greed”: The Cure’s Robert Smith eviscerates dynamic ticket pricing
The Cure’s Robert Smith has torn into dynamic pricing during a new interview. The singer/guitarist, 65, makes the comments during a conversation with The Times.
READ MORE: Fans react after Oasis confirm dynamic pricing won’t be used for newly announced North America dates
Dynamic pricing has become a hot-button topic this year, following the cost of tickets to Oasis’ 2025 UK and Ireland reunion shows reportedly reaching up to double the price of face value. The British government and the European Commission are investigating Ticketmaster as a result.
Smith weighs in by saying he’s “shocked” by the profit margins of some bands due to dynamic pricing. “I thought, ‘We don’t need to make all this money,’” he says. “My fights with the label have all been about how we can price things lower. The only reason you’d charge more for a gig is if you were worried that it was the last time you would be able to sell a t-shirt.”
Smith continues: “But if you had the self-belief that you’re still going to be here in a year’s time, you’d want the show to be great so people come back. You don’t want to charge as much as the market will let you. If people save on the tickets, they buy beer or merch. There is goodwill, they will come back next time. It is a self-fulfilling good vibe and I don’t understand why more people don’t do it.”
https://x.com/RobertSmith/status/1844754570074902657
Last week, Smith announced via X (formerly Twitter) that The Cure will play a release show for new album Songs of a Lost World at The Troxy in London. The frontman wrote there’d be “no dynamic pricing” on tickets to the event, joining a list of artists to reject the practice. Iron Maiden recently confirmed there’d be no dynamic pricing on tickets to the UK dates of their 2025 Run for Your Lives tour. Oasis themselves have also eschewed dynamic pricing on tickets to their 2025 North American dates, prompting backlash from UK and Irish fans.
Smith has famously been outspoken over what he considers to be unfair music industry practices. Last year, the frontman went on a social media tirade about Ticketmaster’s “unduly high” ticket-buying fees. The comments prompted the ticketing giant to give fans partial refunds on tickets to The Cure’s then-upcoming North American tour.
Songs of a Lost World, the first Cure album since 2008, comes out on 1 November.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
