The Cure's Robert Smith talks tickets, scalpers & more: "I realise there are problems"

Tickets for The Cure‘s North American tour go on Ticketmaster Verified Fan sale today at 10 AM. Did you get in, or get stuck on the waitlist? Most of my friends, at least the ones posting about it on Facebook, seemed to get put on the waitlist. Meanwhile, over the weekend resale sites had Cure tickets listed for exorbitant prices — even though no tickets for the tour had been sold yet and no ticket prices announced — which added to confusion among fans.

Robert Smith, who had already said “we want the tour to be affordable for all fans,” took to Twitter on Monday, in his usual all-caps style, to say, “ALL THE ‘SECONDARY TICKET MARKET’ SITES SHOWING INSANELY PRICED CURE TICKETS ARE A CON – NOT ONE OF THESE SCAMMERS HAS A GENUINE TICKET FOR SALE – PLEASE DON’T FALL FOR IT – WAIT TO SEE HOW YOU GET ON THROUGH THE OFFICIAL REGISTRATION CHANNEL.”

On Tuesday night, Smith took to Twitter again to talk about the band’s decision to use Ticketmaster Verified Fan:

TM HAVE JUST TOLD ME “ALL tickets for The Cure Shows Of A Lost World Tour will be made available during tomorrow’s Verified Fan Sale” SEEMS THE RESPONSE TO REGISTRATION HAS BEEN PRETTY OVERWHELMING – THANKS! HOWEVER, I REALISE THERE ARE PROBLEMS, SOME MORE REAL THAN OTHERS…

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 – WE WERE TOLD “In North America the resale business is a multi-billion $ industry. The touts are sophisticated businesses that are expert at acquiring tickets, and the major marketplaces like Vivid, Stubhub and Seatgeek spend tens of millions of dollars on marketing. The touts get an unfair share of tickets and resell them on these marketplaces.”

WE WERE TOLD “Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan platform has been used more than 400 times to qualify buyers and reduce the % of tickets on the secondary market. Using Verified Fan scalping is regularly reduced by 80%, with typically fewer than 5% of tickets on the secondary market after a Verified Fan campaign. Listed below are a few of the artists who have effectively used VF to limit resale.”

WE WERE CONVINCED THAT TICKETMASTER’S “Verified Fan Page” AND “Face Value Ticket Exchange” IDEAS COULD HELP US FIGHT THE SCALPERS

(WE DIDN’T AGREE TO THE ‘DYNAMIC PRICING’ / ‘PRICE SURGING’ / ‘PLATINUM TICKET’ THING… BECAUSE IT IS ITSELF A BIT OF A SCAM? A SEPARATE CONVERSATION!)

WE KNOW IT IS A FAR FROM PERFECT SYSTEM – BUT THE REALITY IS THAT IF THERE AREN’T ENOUGH TICKETS ONSALE, A NUMBER OF FANS ARE GOING TO MISS OUT WHATEVER SYSTEM WE USE; AT LEAST THIS ONE TRIES TO GET TICKETS INTO THE HANDS OF FANS AT A FAIR PRICE…

…AND/OR WE SHOULD PLAY MORE/BIGGER SHOWS? HA!!! ONWARDS…

As for those wondering if today is a just a presale, he says The Cure were told “We will continue to sell tickets to those who are verified until there are no more tickets to sell.”

Good luck!

There are currently three NYC shows on The Cure’s tour at Madison Square Garden on June 20-22. All dates are here.