Neil Young says he will follow The Cure by not using ‘bad’ dynamic pricing

Singer-songwriter Neil Young has said he will follow The Cure frontman Robert Smith in not using “bad” dynamic pricing for his shows.

The US-Canadian musician, 79, is headlining Somerset’s Glastonbury and the BST Hyde Park festival in London this year as he bring his Love Earth tour to the UK.

The issue of dynamic pricing, which sees sellers such as Ticketmaster raising prices online when there is a surge in demand, received more attention following its use as Oasis launched ticket sales for their reunion tour in 2024.

In a statement on his website, Young said surge pricing was a “bad thing that has happened to concerts worldwide”.

The Heart of Gold and Four Strong Winds singer added: “My management and agent have always tried to cover my back on the road, getting me the best deals they could.

“They have tried to protect me and my fans from the scalpers who buy the best tickets and resell them at huge increases for their own profits.

“Ticketmaster’s high-priced Platinum tickets were introduced to the areas where scalpers were buying the most tickets for resale. The money went to me. That did not feel right.

“Very soon, Platinum Tickets will no longer be available for my shows.

“I have decided to let the people work this out. Buy aggressively when the tickets come out or tickets will cost a lot more in a secondary market.”

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

He then directed his fans to read a story from Smith, who hit out at dynamic pricing, saying what The Cure did was “right” to address the issue.

The Cure has previously committed to not having surge pricing on its tours, and Smith told The Times last year that the practice was a “greedy scam”, and his band wanted to make shows affordable.

Smith said: “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.”

Ticketmaster’s website points to Platinum and In Demand tickets being the decision of the promoter and artist.

It says Platinum tickets are “the most in-demand tickets to an event”, and are aimed at giving the “most dedicated fans access to a particular event”.

In response to Young’s comments, a Ticketmaster spokesperson said: “Ticketmaster is a marketplace that sells tickets on behalf of event organisers including sports teams, artist teams, theatre producers and so on. We respect their decisions to price their tickets how they see fit.

“Ticketmaster is committed to making ticketing simple and transparent. Since 2018, our resale has been capped at face value, providing fans a safe place to sell tickets they can’t use at the original price set by artists and event organisers.

“We support proposals to introduce an industry-wide resale price cap. We also urge the government to crackdown on bots and ban speculative ticket sales.

“Ticketmaster welcomes any action to protect fans and give them the best chance at getting tickets to the events they love.”

The Government is consulting on the impact of dynamic pricing and proposed plans to cap the price of resale tickets in the wake of Oasis standard tickets rising to more than double the original price – from £148 to £355 – due to “in-demand” sales.

The Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy called it “incredibly depressing”, and has said the Government is looking at a fairer system.

High resale prices for Oasis have also been criticised, after secondary sellers listed them online for thousands of pounds.

There is a proposal for ticket resale price caps that the Government previously launched a consultation on.

Ticketmaster has been contacted for comment.