Oasis: Why are tickets getting more expensive and how is the UK reacting to dynamic pricing?

Several fans of Oasis were disappointed when trying to secure a ticket for the 2025 tour. The band announced their return to the stage last Friday, 27th, with the reunion of the brothers Liam and NoelGallagher.

Since 2022, Ticketmaster has been applying pricing dynamics to tickets sold on the platform. Therefore, although sales began on Saturday, the 31st, at a price of 200 pounds, many fans were surprised by prices that were double the initially announced price.

Government ministers have announced that they will include pricing dynamics in a consultation with ticket resale websites that will begin in September this year. The Secretary of Culture, Lisa Nandysaid he wants to put an end to “fraudulent resales” and ensure that tickets are sold at “fair prices.”

Nandy She added that it was “depressing to see a lot of inflated prices excluding ordinary fans” from concerts. She revealed that ministers would also look at “issues around transparency and the use of dynamic pricing, including the technology surrounding queuing systems, which encourages it”.

Lucy Powellleader of the UK House of Commons, was shocked by the high prices, finding tickets costing twice the amount initially advertised. However, in an interview with BBC Radio 5she mused: “It’s how the market operates.”

On Monday 2nd, the Advertising Standards Authority revealed that it had received around 450 complaints about ticket sales for the concerts of Oasis“We are evaluating this carefully and therefore cannot comment at this time,” a spokesperson for the organization said. “To emphasize, we are not currently investigating these advertisements.”

What do Ticketmaster and experts say?

Ticketmaster said the prices were determined by the “event organizer,” who “priced the tickets according to market value.”

Dynamic pricing was adopted by Ticketmaster in 2022 and is protected by law. According to the company, the system was introduced to prevent resale and ensure that a greater percentage of the money raised goes to artists.

The economist Schellion Horn stated to the Todayfrom the BBCthat price dynamics determine that the greater the demand for tickets, the higher their value. Thus, “it was realized that tickets were, in fact, underpriced” when sales began, since demand for the shows was very high.

The expert pointed out that the problem was that fans were not aware of the pricing dynamics and therefore there was a lack of transparency on the part of Ticketmaster. “We see this all the time, with Uber or plane and train tickets. So we are very used to pricing dynamics,” she said.

“But I think it was the first time we’ve seen that for concert tickets in the UK, people weren’t expecting it, and I think that’s where the problem lies,” he continued.

Nandy argued that if the government worked with “artists, industry and fans” they could “create a fairer system that puts an end to scalpers, fraudulent sales and ensures tickets are priced fairly”.

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmerreflected during a speech made in March that culture cannot be “at the mercy of relentless ticket sellers who set prices”.