The UK government will investigate dynamic ticket pricing following mass frustration for the soaring prices of tickets to Oasis‘s reunion tour.
Tickets went on sale on Saturday 31 August, and high demand saw many waiting in long online queues behind thousands of other hopefuls before all dates eventually sold out. The Advertising Standards Authority later received 450 complaints claiming the adverts for ticket costs and availability were misleading after prices surged.
According to reports, some tickets increased from £135 to over £350 on platform Ticketmaster in response to demand. Some tickets were also later listed on resale websites for thousands of pounds.
Dynamic pricing is allowed under consumer protection laws in the UK, though Prime Minister Keir Starmer now states in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live that the government will be consulting on the future of the law, which “may well mean adjustments”.
According to the BBC, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also says she wants to end “rip-off resales” and ensure tickets are sold “at fair prices”. She adds that it is “depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans”, and says ministers will look at “issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it”.
The BBC also reports that Ticketmaster has said the prices were set by the “event organiser”, who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”.
Oasis broke up back in 2009 due to strains between brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher. Speculation surrounding a reunion date way back to 2014, but these amped up in recent months as Liam brought his Definitely, Maybe 30th anniversary shows to Reading and Leeds in August. Surely enough, a reunion announcement followed shortly after.
