MINISTERS are set to probe the use of “dynamic pricing”, amid an ongoing row around the “depressing” inflated cost of tickets to see Oasis play next year.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has called the inflated selling of Oasis tickets “incredibly depressing” as she revealed that surge pricing would be included in a Government review of the secondary gig sales market.
Oasis fans have been vocal over their anger that standard tickets more than doubled from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster and the government has pledged to “bring in protections to stop people being ripped off by touts”.
Fans of the Britpop band queued for hours online which the Government also confirmed it would look into as the practice “incentivises” price gouging.
On Sunday, Nandy (below) released a statement saying: “After the incredible news of Oasis’ return, it’s depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live.
“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 queuing 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.”
Dynamic pricing is nothing new and has been allowed for years under consumer protection laws.
Government 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”.
Lots of fans also missed out on the reunion tour tickets as they battled with website issues, and being mislabelled as bots, before Oasis announced all 17 shows had sold out.
However, Ticketmaster maintained its website had not crashed, and directed customers to clear cookies and to only use one tab.
