Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’ for Oasis tickets set to be investigated by U.K. government
Ticketmaster is set to face some tough questions in the U.K. after thousands of Oasis fans were left disappointed having failed to secure tickets through the site for the band’s long-awaited reunion tour.
Ticketmaster is set to face some tough questions in the U.K. after thousands of Oasis fans were left disappointed having failed to secure tickets through the site for the band’s long-awaited reunion tour.
U.K. culture minister Lisa Nandy has pledged to look into Ticketmaster’s use of “dynamic pricing,” which saw ticket prices shoot up by hundreds of pounds while fans were in queues online waiting to buy them.
Some fans reportedly abandoned their purchases having spent hours trying to get through after the prices went up by up to £200 while they were in line. Thousands more couldn’t get through to buy tickets at all, forcing them to resort to ticket-resale sites.
Nandy told the BBC she plans to end “rip-off resales” and make sure tickets are sold “at fair prices,” adding that it was “depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans.”
The government are set to hold a consultation on ticket resale websites this autumn. Dynamic pricing will now be included in the scope of the consultation, Nandy confirmed, saying ministers would look at “issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it.”
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