Live Nation’s Ticket Relief Plan Microsite Details Refund Info

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 – Ticket Relief Plan

Live Nation has unveiled a new microsite to detail its Ticket Relief Plan for offering refunds or credit for canceled or postponed shows.

Beginning May 1 Live Nation will automatically issue refunds for canceled shows. If the event was at a Live Nation venue fans opt instead to receive a credit worth 150% of the ticket’s original value. For each instance a fan opts for the credit Live Nation will donate a ticket to healthcare workers as a part of its Hero Nation program.

For rescheduled shows fans will be provided a ticket for the new date and, if they want a refund, must request one within 30 days of receiving the new date.

The list of Live Nation venues participating in the credit program is massive, including House of Blues and Fillmore venues across the country. The site also contains a FAQ section that clarifies information on how healthcare workers can obtain tickets through the Hero Nation program will be provided in the coming weeks and shows canceled before May 1 are not eligible for the credit program.

Fans concerned about the status of specific events can check livenation.com/eventstatus.

Ticketing companies have been coming under fire en masse after multiple marketplaces, most notably StubHub, announced only coupons would be available for canceled events, as opposed to refunds. 

Ticketmaster, as the largest North American ticketing platform (and a part of Live Nation Entertainment), has provided the largest target for public ire as countless ticketholders have waited for information about how they can get money for their tickets. The hubbub about refunds reached the ears of U.S Reps Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) and Katie Porter (D-CA-45), who wrote a scathing letter to Ticketmaster President Amy Howe and Live Nation President Michael Rapino.

Ticketmaster President Jared Smith responded to representatives Pascrell and Porter on behalf of Rapino and Howe. 

“Ticketmaster is a platform that allows event organizers to sell their tickets directly to consumers. Our business practice is to send money to event organizers on a weekly basis as tickets are sold,” Smith wrote. 
“For the 30,000 events that have already been postponed or canceled as a result of COVID-19, we have already sent more than $2 billion to event organizers, making it impossible to issue refunds to fans before recouping sales receipts from the organizers, as we’ve done in the past.”

“As of March 1, there were over 55,000 events on our systems scheduled to take place between March 1 and the end of 2020. As noted, most of those events have already been impacted in some way by government-mandated, and vitally necessary, restrictions on large public gatherings. We fully anticipate more events will be impacted in the weeks and months ahead,” Smith continues.
“Of those 30,000 events already impacted, over 12,000 have already been canceled and we are actively issuing refunds to every one of the purchasers of those events. Roughly 5,000 events have already been rescheduled, and organizers have authorized us to issue refunds to consumers who request them.
“Of the remaining 14,000 events—which include sports, concerts and Broadway shows —promoters are actively working through rescheduling options, which is an incredibly complex task at present given the diminished line of sight into the future as well as the uncertainty around when large gatherings may resume. As those events either land new dates or are cancelled, we will work quickly with the event organizers to authorize refunds on those events as well.
“Let me reiterate: neither our clients, nor Ticketmaster, intend to withhold refunds on postponed shows.”