The Government will look at “dynamic” ticket pricing following a backlash from fans over Oasis gigs, it has been announced.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said it is “depressing” that gig-goers were expected to pay “vastly inflated prices” – meaning tens of thousands missed out. Although tickets for the 17 Oasis comeback shows were initially advertised at £148.50, fans discovered this had risen to over £350 when they got to the start of the queue.
The Government has confirmed it will be looking at dynamic ticket pricing – which means “in demand” events become more expensive when tickets become scarce. A consultion into the way ticket resale sites operate will be expanded to look at the practice. Ms Nandy said: “After the incredible news of Oasis’s return, it’s depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live.
(
Daily Mirror/Andy Stenning)
“This Government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of music. So we will include issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queueing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales. Working with artists, industry and fans we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told Sky News: “Like everybody else I saw the frustration of fans trying to get Oasis tickets and it’s incredibly uncomfortable to look at that and to see the difficulties fans have faced. And that’s why Lisa Nandy, our Culture Secretary, intends to look at this as part of a wider review to make sure that fans are getting a fair deal because it doesn’t feel like it at the moment.”
But she declined to criticise Oasis for the decision to allow dynamic ticket pricing. Last month ministers announced a consultation would be launched into ticket resale sites. Earlier this year Labour’s Sir Chris Bryant – now a culture minister in the new Government – said he was aware of an Adele ticket being listed for nearly £25,000.
Labour minister Lucy Powell was among those hit by dynamic pricing on Saturday, and eventually forked out more than double the original quoted cost of a ticket for an Oasis show. Ticketmaster said it does not set prices, and its website says this is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.
House of Commons leader Ms Powell said she ended up buying two tickets for £350 each for Heaton Park in July, which were originally quoted at £148.50, not including a booking fee of £2.75. The Manchester Central MP told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Eventually (I) got through and bought a couple of tickets for more than I was expecting to pay.”
Ms Powell said she does not “particularly like” surge pricing, before adding: “It is the market and how it operates.” “You’ve absolutely got to be transparent about that so that when people arrive after hours of waiting, they understand that the ticket is going to cost more,” she said.