For their latest North American tour, The Cure kept tickets prices intentionally low. And yet, the band still managed to achieve the highest-grossing tour of their career.
According to Billboard, The Cure’s “Shows of a Lost World Tour” sold 547,000 tickets for a gross of $37.5 million. Both numbers are new career bests: the band’s previous high-water mark for tickets sold in America was 402,000 in 1992, while they more than doubled the gross revenue of their 2016 jaunt ($18 million).
Despite these impressive totals, The Cure could have earned a lot more, but frontman Robert Smith intentionally left millions of dollars on the table so the band could offer reasonable priced tickets to their fans. Per Billboard, the average ticket price for the “Shows of a Lost World Tour” was $68.54 — 37% less than the average ticket price for the year’s other top tours.
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As part of the on-sale process for the tour, Smith opted out of Ticketmaster’s “platinum” and “dynamically priced” ticket options, and restricted ticket transfers in markets where he was legally allowed to do so. He also compelled Ticketmaster to offer partial refunds for “unduly high” transaction fees.
Moral of the story? It’s possible to protect fans, sell affordable tickets, and still make millions.
Later this year, The Cure will headline Chicago’s Riot Fest and embark on a tour of Latin America.
