‘Tours are no longer fun’: Neil Young lambasts Ticketmaster for ripping off fans
Neil Young has lambasted Ticketmaster over its concert ticketing policies, saying “concert tours are no longer fun” due to what he sees as exploitative pricing.
Young wrote on his website:
It’s over. The old days are gone. I get letters blaming me for $3,000 tickets for a benefit I am doing. That money does not go to me or the benefit. Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers. Concert tours are no longer fun. Concert tours not what they were.
He also shared a news article about the Cure, the band who have also been highly critical of Ticketmaster.
Frontman Robert Smith told fans he was as “sickened as you all are” over Ticketmaster’s fees for the Cure’s forthcoming US tour – the band had deliberately kept ticket prices low, but in some cases the fees levied by Ticketmaster exceeded the price of a concert ticket.
After questioning Ticketmaster over the fees, the band announced that the company “have agreed with us that many of the fees being charged are unduly high”. Ticketmaster offered a $10 or $5 refund on tickets, depending on the original price.
The Cure also criticised Ticketmaster over its “dynamic pricing” policy, introduced in the UK in 2022 and used by artists such as Harry Styles and Coldplay, which inflates the price of remaining tickets for in-demand concerts. The Cure opted out of dynamic pricing, calling it “a greedy scam – and all artists have the choice not to participate … if no artists participated, it would cease to exist”.
Bruce Springsteen was criticised for using dynamic pricing last year. He responded: “Ticket buying has gotten very confusing, not just for the fans but for the artists also … I tell my guys: go out and see what everybody else is doing.
Read more on theguardian.com
