Robert Smith calls dynamic ticket pricing a “scam”

Dynamic ticket pricing is back in the spotlight after Oasis announced their reunion because that model was applied to their ticket sales in the United Kingdom. The cost of tickets fluctuates based on real-time demand and other factors, just like hotel and airline reservations. One band that always was opposed to that is The Cure, led by the singer and multi-instrumentalist Robert Smith. He called, in an interview with The Times, this model a “scam”.

Robert Smith calls dynamic ticket pricing a “scam”

“I was shocked by how much profit is made. I thought, ‘We don’t need to make all this money.’ 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.”

“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.”

“It was easy to set ticket prices, but you need to be pig-headed. We didn’t allow dynamic pricing because it’s a scam that would disappear if every artist said, ‘I don’t want that!’ But most artists hide behind management. ‘Oh, we didn’t know,’ they say. They all know. If they say they do not, they’re either f***ing stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed,” Robert Smith said.

The Cure will release next November 1st “Songs of a Lost World”, their first studio album in 16 years.