Did The Cure Singer Call Out Pearl Jam?

The Cure frontman Robert Smith has stated that bands who use Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing are ‘scamming’ their fans. He said about the artists using the system, “They all know. If they say they do not, they’re either stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed.” Fans are speculating that he could be calling out famous bands like Pearl Jam who use Ticketmaster, after the Seattle band infamously fought them in the 90’s.

In recent years, Robert Smith of The Cure has been speaking out about the changing touring and ticket market. In 2023, the singer successfully convinced Ticketmaster to provide partial refunds to fans who had bought tickets for their Songs Of A Lost World tour, pushing back against what he described as “excessively high” fees. D

uring their U.S. tour, the band intentionally kept ticket prices low to make them affordable, with some tickets priced at $20, but the fees sometimes ended up being higher than the ticket price.

Robert Smith comments on dynamic pricing

In a new, lengthy interview, first published in the The Times , Smith has commented further on Ticketmaster’s practices and specifically their dynamic pricing model.

“I was shocked by how much profit is made [by ticketing],” Smith said. “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.”

He continued: “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–king stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed.”

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