Neil Young Declares “Touring Is Broken” Due to Ticketmaster Controversy

Neil Young is among lots of artists openly slamming Ticketmaster for their long held monopoly on show ticket sales. In a March 19 post on his Neil Young Archives site entitled “Concert Touring Is Broken,” the singer-songwriter decried the business’s high ticket costs and ticket charges, which have actually risen to 30% for some artists. “It’s over. The old days are gone,” Young composed in the post, including: “I get letters blaming me for $3,000 tickets for an advantage I am doing. That cash does not go to me or the advantage. Artists need to fret about duped fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers. Show trips are no longer enjoyable. Performance trips not what they were.” The post likewise includes a news short article by Ananya Bhattacharya talking about the Cure’s current issue with Ticketmaster; specifically, that their fans underwent high charges throughout the band’s “Verified Fan” sale for their approaching trip. “I am as sickened as you all are by today’s Ticketmaster ‘charges’ fiasco,” frontman Robert Smith tweeted about the topic on March 15. “To be extremely clear: The artist has no chance to restrict them. I have actually been asking how they are warranted. If I get anything meaningful by method of a response I will let you all understand.” The following day, Smith tweeted that “after more discussion, Ticketmaster have actually concurred with us that a lot of the costs being charged are unduly high, and as a gesture of goodwill have actually provided a $10 per ticket refund to all ‘Verified Fan’ represent least expensive ticket cost (‘ LTP’) deals.” He likewise composed that Ticketmaster would provide a $5 refund to “Verified Fan” represent other ticket deals, and kept in mind that tickets on sale the next day would have minimized charges. After years of controling the occasion ticketing market, Ticketmaster has actually been the target of frustrating criticism recently– from artists, fans, and even federal government authorities. Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour on-sale date was canceled throughout a mess that overwhelmed Ticketmaster’s site and locked out a variety of fans from purchasing tickets. Numerous of those fans took legal action against the business the business as an outcome. Ticketmaster is likewise dealing with a Senate hearing and an antitrust examination for abuse of power helmed by the Justice Department (the examination likewise targets Live Nation Entertainment– the business formed after Live Nation and Ticketmaster combined in 2010). Neil Young has actually regularly utilized his platform to slam massive business. In 2015, he published a letter on Neil Young Archives requiring that his music be eliminated from Spotify, declaring it spreads out “phony details about vaccines– possibly triggering death to those who think the disinformation being spread out by them.” (His letter described Joe Rogan, who has actually been implicated of spreading out false information about COVID-19 and vaccines.) Spotify adhered to Young’s demand and eliminated his music days later on. The platform likewise specified that they got rid of “over 20,000 podcast episodes connected to COVID-19 because the start of the pandemic.” Young later on prompted Spotify staff members to stop their tasks. More just recently, Young appeared to review Beck’s cover of “Old Man,” which was launched as an NFL-sponsored clip prior to the 2023 Super Bowl. After Beck’s cover aired, Young published a still from his anti-sponsorship video for the 1988 tune “This Note’s for You.” In the image, Young holds a bottle identified “SPONSORED BY NOBODY.”