Some tickeholders for the Arcade Fire‘s upcoming show in Vancouver say they’re upset Ticketmaster won’t refund them — amid sexual misconduct allegations against the band’s lead singer.
Win Butler is facing multiple allegations that he made unwelcome advances and behaved inappropriately based on power dynamics and age gaps. Butler has denied all the accusations.
But for fans like Kathryn Stewart, the allegations have soured the prospect of seeing the group at its upcoming Nov. 25 performance at Rogers Arena.
“I was a really big fan. I saw them when I was in Australia, we went on their last album tour. During the pandemic I said to myself, if I ever get to see live music again and buy tickets, I’m going to go on the floor,” she told Global News.
“I’m not the judge and jury, I don’t know what happened. I really liked Feist’s take, actually. She was like, ‘I’m just uncomfortable being here,’ and that’s kind of how I feel.”
Amid the allegations, opening acts Feist and Beck have dropped out.
But despite the changed lineup and public concerns about Butler, Ticketmaster is refusing to offer refunds to fans.
Dale Jarvis, who shelled out $250 for a pair of tickets to the show, told Global News that as the father of two young girls, he couldn’t stomach going to the performance.
“With allegations hanging over Arcade Fire, I just don’t understand why Ticketmaster refuses to give us our money back,” he said.
“And also the opening acts have cancelled too, so no interest in going now.”
Global News requested comment from Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, neither of which responded by deadline.
Christine Stephenson, executive director of the Peter Dillon Centre for Business Ethics at UBC’s Sauder School of Business said that could hurt the company in the long run.
She said moral issues and customer values have become an important part of business calculations in today’s world, and one companies will need to plan for.
“It’s setting a really high bar to expect Ticketmaster to refund the tickets, but on the other hand these costs may simply reflect new expectations of businesses and are just now the cost of doing business,” she said.
“Ticketmaster is clearly in a difficult situation. It will cost them to refund the tickets, of course, but they will also have to ask them what’s the cost of not refunding tickets — if their customers feel as strongly as it seems they do, those costs may be pretty high.”
In the meantime, ticketholders appear to be out of luck.
Demand appears to have cratered for seats, with plenty of tickets on resale sites listed at below their original purchase price.
“I might have to eat it,” Jarvis said of the ticket price.
“I’m kind of regretting the amount of money I spent,” added Stewart.
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