As the coronavirus continues to spread, the live music industry has taken a major hit. Nearly every festival and concert tour this summer has been canceled or postponed in order to adhere to social distancing guidelines, and consequently, live music and touring stocks have fallen drastically. In the midst of the festival and concert tour schedule changes, Ticketmaster is making it more difficult for ticketholders to get a refund. But artists are responding by doing what they can to return money to their fans.
Ticketmaster recently faced backlash for quietly altering their refund policy. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the company offered full refunds for shows that were either postponed or canceled by the artist. But, in recent weeks, Ticketmaster changed their policy’s language to remove concert postponements from refund availability. That means fans can only get their money back if a concert was canceled entirely, not postponed.
Musicians like Bon Jovi are attempting to combat Ticketmaster’s policy change. In a statement, the veteran singer’s crew announced they would be canceling all summer shows, rather than postponing them, so fans are able to receive refunds and financially support themselves:
“Due to the ongoing global pandemic, it is no longer feasible for Bon Jovi to tour this summer. Given these difficult times, we have made the decision to cancel the tour entirely. This will enable ticketholders to get refunds to help pay their bills or buy groceries. These are trying times. You’ve always been there for us and we’ll always be there for you. We look forward to seeing everyone again on tour when we can all safely be together. We will continue to send out news and updates on Bon Jovi touring in the weeks and months to come.”
Though some fans are not able to receive refunds to postponed shows, some artists are making sure fans can exchange their tickets for a later date. Taylor Swift recently announced she would be postponing all her 2020 tour dates. While that means fans cannot receive a refund through Ticketmaster, all tickets will be automatically transferred to the reflect newly scheduled date.
