Sports fans have also pilloried Major League Baseball, which has also been hit by a recent class-action suit. The league sells some tickets through Ticketmaster and has a policy of not offering refunds for postponed games.

That rule is rooted in baseball’s longstanding practice of handling rained-out games, said a league official, who declined to comment on the suit. Rob Manfred, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, said in a recent interview with The Associated Press that the league would “turn over every stone” to salvage the 2020 season.

The rocky rollout of industrywide policies for refunds is to some degree a reflection of the complexity of the music world as it deals with the unprecedented collapse of touring caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Virtually all events were taken off the road by mid-March, and promoters, talent agents and artists have been scrambling since then to set new dates for shows. Many of those parties have described that process as nearly impossible, since tours are usually set months in advance. Even if a safe date for touring could be determined, tours reaching major venues like stadiums and arenas may have to wait for sports teams — which are often tenants of those buildings — to determine their own schedules before dates can be secured.

“Everyone in the industry is working together to try and save as many of these shows as we can so we can save as many jobs that go with them,” Joe Berchtold, the president of Live Nation, said in a statement. “And we’re trying to reschedule thousands of events at the same time while having very limited information as to exactly when governments will allow venues to reopen. It’s a massive effort and a massive challenge but the entire industry is working through it together.”

Talent agents say that many artists are eager to tour, yet do not want to be perceived as holding their fans’ ticketing money hostage if they wait too long to announce new dates. In recent days a handful of superstar acts, like Bon Jovi, have canceled summer tours outright rather than postpone indefinitely.