Fury over ‘dynamic pricing’ which noticed Oasis tickets rise to £350

Ticketmaster bosses have come under fire again for their hated ‘dynamic pricing’ – with music fans also turning on Oasis for raking in profits from the controversial ticketing system.

An estimated 14million Oasis fans spent ‘Supersonic Saturday’ desperately battling it out to get their hands on tickets to see brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher reunite on stage for a mammoth tour around the UK and Ireland next year.

But eager fans were left raging after the price of standing tickets went up from £150 face value to £355 within hours due to the huge demand. 

Fans described Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing as an ‘absolute disgrace’ and lashed out at the company’s bosses which include CEO Michael Rapino, UK managing director Andrew Parsons, president Mark Yovich and COO Michael Wichser.

The ‘dynamic pricing’ system, which Ticketmaster introduced in 2022, works by altering the prices of tickets based on demand – similar to an Uber journey or seats on flights.

When face value tickets have sold out, ticket providers release more at a higher price, agreed in advance with the artist’s manager and promoter.

Crucially, Oasis – often hailed as working class heroes – could have rejected dynamic pricing to keep the cost lower for fans. Singer Tom Grennan said in 2022 that he had ‘dismissed all VIP and platinum ticket options’ due to the cost-of-living crisis.

Ticketmaster say the hated practice is ‘driven by supply and demand’ and that the extra money from the inflated prices for Oasis tickets will go to the band. MailOnline has approached the band’s representatives for comment.

Dynamic pricing works on the logic that by increasing prices on official websites, touts will be scared off and the artists will be able to keep the extra profit. The ‘In-Demand’ tickets are often called ‘platinum tickets’, but consumers gain no added benefit such as VIP access. 

Mr Rapino, the CEO of Live Nation Entertainment which owns Ticketmaster, has come under fire since Oasis tickets went on sale. One user tweeted: ‘You are everything that’s wrong with the live events industry.’

Another wrote: ‘Michael Ticketmaster are a joke and you’re a money grabbing scumbag. Demand pricing is Ticketmaster being the touts themselves. 1000s of UK fans writing to their MP. See you in court.’

Mr Rapino, who lives in LA with his wife and three children, is known for his ‘rock-star pay deals’ and was paid $139million in 2022, making him one of the highest-paid bosses in corporate America, The Sunday Times reports. 

Others called on Mr Parsons to explain himself in an interview, adding: ‘Dynamic ticket pricing?? Absolute racket by his company!’ 

Mr Parsons, who has worked for Ticketmaster for more than 20 years, overseas the strategy for both UK and Ireland. 

Live Nation Entertainment, which is based in California, is valued at $22billion and made profits of £1.9billion last year – up 32 per cent the year prior. It’s Ticketmaster arm’s revenue soared to $3billion and profits of around $1billion. 

Politicians accused Ticketmaster of ‘fleecing’ fans with its dynamic pricing, and Irish MEP Regina Doherty called for an investigation into the pricing structure for tickets sold for the two Oasis gigs at Croke Park in Dublin.

Although it has regularly been used in America, dynamic ticket pricing is a relatively new phenomenon in the UK and has already enraged the fans of Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles.

Today, Cabinet minister Lucy Powell questioned the ‘transparency’ of Ticketmaster pricing for Oasis tickets after she managed to bag two tickets for the hotly-anticipated reunion tour – but at a steep price. 

Ms Powell insisted she ‘didn’t like’ being confronted with a higher price of £350 when she finally reached the front of the queue, adding that she was ‘not sure how totally transparent it was’.

Despite the frustration, the Commons Leader dismissed the idea of nationalising Ticketmaster.

Ms Powell told BBC Radio 5 Live that she had forked out ‘more than I was expecting to pay’ for her pair of tickets.

‘I think it was £350… it’s a lot of money,’ she said.

Asked about the way ticket prices were increased due to demand, she said: ‘I don’t particularly like it, I’m sure many people don’t.’

She insisted there were already protections for consumers, but added: ‘I think you’ve got to be transparent. 

‘You’ve absolutely got to be transparent so that when people are arriving after hours of waiting, they understand that the ticket is going to cost more…’

Pressed on whether it was transparent yesterday, Ms Powell said: ‘I’m not sure how totally transparent it was… all I will say is that live entertainment has got very expensive.’

A spokesperson for Ticketmaster told MailOnline it doesn’t set the prices.

A description on the website reads: ‘Promoters and artists set ticket prices. Prices can be either fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labelled as ‘Platinum’ or ‘In Demand’.’

By increasing prices on the official website to match what touts are charging on secondary sites like Viagogo, the touts will be scared off, meaning artists can keep the extra profit. 

Oasis also faced the wrath of music fans, who attacked them for agreeing to dynamic pricing.

One user said: ‘Feel really let down by Liam and Noel Gallagher AKA Oasis. I didn’t get tickets, which I’m sad about and that’s cool. It’s a lottery. But allowing Ticketmaster to run dymanic pricing for those who did get through is such a massive f*** you to your fans.’

Another wrote: ‘I was sad about missing out on tickets until I realised that Oasis allowed dynamic pricing to be applied – so the cost of tickets were unaffordable to most of the fan base – very poor behaviour.’

A third commented: ‘The silence from Ticketmaster and Oasis is deafening! Who set dynamic pricing and was dishonest about face value?’ 

Throughout the morning and the afternoon devotees fought to give themselves the best chance of seeing Noel and Liam Gallagher live 15 years after the warring brothers split.

Many posted pictures of their ‘ticket stations’ as they each used several laptops, iPads and mobiles.

Others – who managed to get through to buy their tickets – raged after various sites hiked up their prices because the passes were ‘in demand’.

Tickets for Oasis’s upcoming reunion tour were meant to start at £74.25 for seated tickets at their Wembley shows, with the most expensive ticket being a £506.25 pre-show party, exhibition and seated ticket package.

Standing tickets were originally listed from £151.25, and seated from £74.25 in London – but apparent screenshots from the Ticketmaster website offering In Demand standing tickets for 415.50 euros each, plus fees, equivalent to around £350.

A floor standing ticket for Oasis at Wembley in July 2009 priced at £38.10.

A similar phenomenon occurred with tickets for Harry Styles’s concert at Slane Castle last year when tickets on the site were sold for €195 instead of €97. 

Fans have called for the boycott of Viagogo as greedy resellers began trying to flog reunion tour tickets for almost £7000.

On Sunday morning, the reselling website Viagogo was listing tickets for the Wembley July 25 gig for between £761 and £5,369.

In Cardiff, original tickets were said to cost £73, but some X users posted screenshots of tickets costing £356 to £438.

On Viagogo, tickets for the show at the Principality Stadium on July 4 are being sold for between £817 and £2,969.

In the band’s home city of Manchester, tickets were meant to start from £148.50, with only standing available alongside a number of hospitality and luxury offerings.

But screenshots posted on X of the Ticketmaster website shows Standing Tickets costing £355.

Meanwhile, for the Manchester July 11 gig, tickets on Viagogo cost between £687 and £6,710 – with VIP tickets being a whopping £9,041.

Some Oasis ticket hopefuls also reported being ‘suspended’ by Ticketmaster UK and Ireland after it accused them of being ‘bots’.

Even celebrities hit out at the Oasis ticket fiasco, with TV and radio presenter Dan Walker posting on X: ‘There has got to be a fairer, simpler, more efficient way of selling tickets that isn’t so open to touts, scammers, resellers & bots. #Oasis

‘In the queue, out of the queue, refresh / don’t refresh, wait in line, back of the line, accused of being a bot… timed out.’

He added in a separate post: ‘How many times have you refreshed Ticketmaster?’

BBC journalist Victoria Derbyshire was also left frustrated by the booking process.

She posted at 11.23am with a screenshot of Ticketmaster telling her she was in the queue: ‘Has anyone actually managed to get a ticket today yet?’

Zarah Sultana, the Labour MP for Coventry South, said she waited three hours for tickets only for the site to crash.

Oasis assured fans on social media that tickets ‘can only be resold at face value via Ticketmaster and Twickets’.

‘Tickets appearing on other secondary ticketing sites are either counterfeit or will be cancelled by the promoters.’

A government spokeswoman said in a statement: ‘Everyone deserves a fair chance to see their favourite artists live, that is why vendors are required by law to be transparent about their ticket prices. 

‘We want to go further to put fans back at the heart of music, and will bring in protections to stop people being ripped off by touts.’

The managing director of ticket resell website Viagogo defended the decision to sell opportunities to see the band at beyond the price set by the organisers.

Cris Miller said: ‘This is a dream event anticipated by millions worldwide.

‘Our number-one tip for fans using secondary marketplaces is to continue to check prices outside of the first few weeks of sale.

‘Demand will be at its peak when tickets hit the on-sale but it’s not a normal reflection of what tickets can and will go for.

‘Just this summer tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in the UK sold on our platform for as low as £80.’

He added: ‘In the case of Oasis – a highly anticipated event – we saw the primary sites struggling to manage demand even before the on-sale, and site crashes.

‘We know fans are frustrated with the process and we know there is a better way.

‘We continue to support industry collaboration to ensure the entire ticketing market works for fans and the live entertainment industry.

‘Resale is legal in the UK and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or their money back.’

Ticketmaster said in a statement: ‘In Demand Tickets are dynamically-priced tickets.

‘Based on demand the prices of these tickets may change.

‘These tickets are not part of VIP packages – they are tickets only.’ 

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) told the BBC it could not pass comment on Ticketmaster’s pricing structure. 

‘We encourage anyone with concerns to get in touch with us and we’d carefully assess whether there were any grounds for action,’ an ASA spokesperson said. 

But they added: ‘Our rules (the Advertising Codes) are clear quoted prices must not mislead.’