April 26, 2024, 12:02 p.m.
Tackling the ticket question: Robert Smith of The Cure, Billie Eilish and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day.
Photo: Thomas Jackson/Anne-Marie Forker/Mairo Cincuetti/Alamy Stock Photo
In the United States, 250 bands and musicians have supported the “Fans First Act”, which aims to protect concertgoers from scams and excessive resale prices.
Artists such as Green Day, Billie Eilish And Lord signed an open letter to pass the “Fans First Act” in the United States to protect concert-goers from ticket scams and unreasonable resale prices.
Fall Out Boy, Nile Rodgers, Pixies, Sam Smith, Jon Bon Jovi, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry And The treatmentIt is Robert Smith are just some of the 250 artists who signed the document calling on the Senate Commerce Committee to do more to prevent bots and scammers from profiting from tickets in the United States.
The letter began: “As artists and members of the music community, we depend on touring for our livelihood and we value music fans above all else.
“We stand united in saying that the current system is broken; predatory resellers and secondary platforms engage in deceptive ticketing practices to inflate ticket prices and deprive fans of the chance to see their favorite artists at a discounted price. fair.”
The letter goes on to criticize “predatory dealers” who ruin fans’ experiences at concerts.
If the bill passes, it wants to ban “fake tickets and deceptive marketing tactics that trick our fans into paying more for tickets that may never allow them to attend a show.”
The letter also mentioned “speculative tickets” and explained that this was when “a predatory reseller lists tickets for a show before they are even on sale or does not have the ticket in hand – is intentionally misleading and too often leads fans to show up to a venue without a valid ticket.”
The letter concludes by saying: “We, as artists, music lovers, and concert-goers ourselves, urge you to support the Fans First Act to combat the deceptive ticketing practices of predatory resellers and secondary platforms, which also benefit from these practices. dealers should not be more profitable than people who dedicate their lives to their art. »
Last year, Robert Smith won a partial refund for fans who complained that tickets to The Cure’s North American shows carried excessive fees.
The musician vowed that the band would try to keep the tickets affordable, but was shocked to see that fans had to pay service fees, setup fees and order processing fees, which exceeded the price of some of their tickets.
Smith explained: “After further conversation, Ticketmaster has agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high, and we, as a gesture of goodwill, have offered a $10 per ticket refund to all fan accounts checked for Lowest Ticket Price (“LTP”) transactions…”
