Following the most recent incident involving Ticketmaster and The Cure, Neil Young spoke about the situation of touring at the moment.

The Cure's North American tour tickets went on sale last week, but controversy soon erupted after it emerged that the ticketing site had placed "unduly high" add-ons and fees to tickets without the band's consent.

On his website, Neil Young now expresses his opinions on touring and Ticketmaster, writing: "It's over. The past has passed. I frequently receive letters accusing me of selling $3,000 tickets for a charity event. I do not receive any of that money or the advantage."

“Artists have to worry about ripped-off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers. Concert tours are no longer fun. Concert tours [are] not what they were”, he stated.

The quote from Young was posted over a story about The Cure's interactions with Ticketmaster. Robert Smith, the band's leader, disclosed last week that he had communicated with the ticketing system to give minor refunds to supporters who had bought tickets.

Before tickets went on sale, Smith wrote in a letter to fans that the band selected Ticketmaster as their ticketing partner in the hopes that the platform would be able to fight scalpers and "get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price" while also being able to offer fans cheap tickets that weren't "instantly and horribly distorted by resale."

Once tickets went on sale, Smith said he was “sickened” by high Ticketmaster fees after they vowed to keep prices affordable for fans. After the Verified Fan sale went live on March 15, some fans reported that Ticketmaster fees, including service fees, facility charges and order processing fees, exceeded the price of actual tickets. 

Source: NME

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