Ticketmaster, AEG offering 30 day window for ticket refunds

Fans can request refunds starting May 1st

AEG Presents and Ticketmaster will begin offering refunds for postponed shows starting May 1st. Billboard reports ticketholders will be given 30 days following the announcement of an event’s postponement to request a refund from the promoter. This 30 day window includes AEG Presents events that have announced for rescheduling in March and April.

Refunds will not be eligible for events that have not be rescheduled. Fans can expect automatic full refunds for events that have been canceled due to the coronavirus.

Tickets that are not refunded will be good for the rescheduled date, whenever that is.

Live Nation has had eight thousand shows impacted by the event stoppage starting in mid-March of this year, with 15 million tickets sold for these shows. It ensures refunds are in the works for some of its postponed shows.

“Refunds have been issued for tickets for all canceled shows, and the company expects to allow some refunds for postponed shows in the U.S. and select international markets as new event dates are set,” the company shares. “In multiple international markets, including Germany, Italy and Belgium, government regulations which allow for the issuance of vouchers in place of cash refunds for rescheduled shows, and in some cases for cancelled shows, have been put in place or drafted.”

For rescheduled shows that have offered refunds over the past month, 5% to 20% of fans have requested refunds while the vast majority preferred to hold on to their tickets for the future date.

The news follows Ticketmaster’s response to refunds after receiving backlash from ticketholders due to a change in their terms of its refund policy since COVID-19. The company removed the wording “if your event is postponed, rescheduled or canceled” from its refund policy to reflect only cancelations as the way to get your money back. However, they have made it clear it’s up to the promoter (and often the artists’ team) to offer refunds for postponed dates.

Billboard states that Ticketmaster has already cancelled or postponed 30k events representing $2 billion in ticket sales. They also represent another 25k events that are still scheduled to take place throughout 2020, but expect more postponements and cancelations to roll out through the remainder of the year in which they’ll offer refunds.

Last month, StubHub was hit with a $5 million class action lawsuit over their refund policy change that went into affect on March 20th, after the coronavirus forced the ban of large gatherings throughout the country. They began offering ticketholders 120% of the purchase price of purchased tickets for future events instead of refunds.

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com