Oasis âdynamic pricingâ row prompts government probe
Ministers are set to look into the use of âdynamic pricingâ, amid an ongoing row about the âdepressingâ and âvastly inflatedâ cost of tickets to see Oasis next year.
A consultation into ticket resale websites had already been announced by the government, and will start in the autumn.
But after dozens of Oasis fans voiced anger over the cost of tickets surging as they queued for hours online, the government also confirmed it would look into the controversial practice.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said she wants to end ârip-off resalesâ and ensure tickets are sold âat fair pricesâ.
Dynamic pricing on Ticketmaster, where tickets to the reunion tour were originally sold and where prices rise in line with demand, sparked criticism from many fans after some tickets rose to more than ÂŁ350 â up from ÂŁ135 when the sale began on Saturday.
It is not a new phenomenon and is allowed under consumer protection laws.
Ms Nandy said it was âdepressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fansâ from gigs.
Outlining the government reviewâs scope, she said ministers would look at âissues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise itâ.
Fellow minister Lucy Powell, leader of the House of Commons, was among those hit by dynamic pricing over the weekend. She eventually forked out more than double the original quoted cost of a ticket for an Oasis show.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live that she did not âparticularly likeâ surge pricing, but that âit is the market and how it operatesâ.
Other fans were not so forgiving, with one, Jamie Moore, saying he had never felt âso let down by a websiteâ in his life.
Ticketmaster has said it does not set prices and that it is down to the âevent organiserâ who âhas priced these tickets according to their market valueâ.
Meanwhile, ticketing websites were praised for coping with the âenormous demandâ for Oasis tickets by Jonathan Brown, chief executive of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers, who insisted prices would have been set by the band.
Oasis and the bandâs promoter have not responded to these claims.
Ms Nandy said if the government worked with âartists, industry and fans, we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair pricesâ.
Before he became prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer backed a move to introduce a cap on prices for resold tickets and limits to how many tickets a person can resell.
During a speech in March, he said access to culture could not be âat the mercy of ruthless ticket touts who drive up the pricesâ.