Tickets to Green Day’s Saviors tour in Australia were as high as $500 in the initial presale after Ticketmaster revealed dynamic pricing was in effect for the rock band’s upcoming shows.
The first presale for the March 2025 leg of the tour went on sale Monday for three locations – the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne. The cheapest general admission tickets were capped at $200 plus booking fee, but those wanting seated tickets were informed at purchase point that the price was as high as $500 due to what Ticketmaster calls “In Demand” pricing.
Fans on social media called for explanations for the prices, with one user on X calling the ticket scheme “a joke”.
Another user asked: “ticketmaster explain why ur seats for green day at $400-500 ? what in the dynamic pricing is going on here ?? i got a golden circle collector ticket for $280 but my mum cant get seats because theyre literally pushing $500?”
Others said they would give the concert a miss due to the high pricing.
Ticketmaster states on its website that In Demand tickets “give fans fair and safe access to sought-after seats at market-driven prices”. A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said on Tuesday tickets cap out at $500 and Ticketmaster does not set the prices – the artists and their teams do.
The “market-priced” tickets are a manual adjustment of a “small portion” of tickets closer to the full market value revealed in resale markets, the spokesperson said.
“Rather than fans paying limitless prices on the secondary market and being unsure if tickets are actually genuine, the relatively small number of tickets that some tours price at ‘market value’ enable the general price of the majority of tickets to be more affordable by a larger number of fans,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said it means this revenue benefits the artist rather than scalpers, and is important as artists are becoming more reliant on touring as their main source of income.
“Pricing isn’t about charging people more; it’s about looking at prices fans are already paying on secondary [markets] and shifting that value back to the artist,” the spokesperson said.
Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation came under fire in the UK earlier this month when fans who had queued up for hours for tickets for the Oasis reunion tour found prices had skyrocketed from a price of a £135 ticket (standing only) to £355 while they had been queuing due to the same dynamic pricing scheme.
The backlash led to an investigation from the UK competition regulator, while the EU Commission flagged it was looking at dynamic pricing, including ways to potentially ban the practice.
Guardian Australia asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission whether it had fielded any complaints about the pricing related to Green Day. A spokesperson indicated that dynamic pricing was legal and was common in some sectors such as ridesharing, airfares and accommodation.
The spokesperson said businesses could generally set, raise and lower the prices they charged.
“Businesses decide the prices of their goods and services based on a variety of factors, including supply and demand issues,” the spokesperson said.
“If a business uses dynamic pricing when advertising, marketing and selling goods or services, they need to ensure that they do not mislead consumers and consumers are aware throughout the transaction process about the costs.”
Dynamic pricing could be misleading, the spokesperson said, but it would depend on the circumstances involved and what representations a business made to consumers about their pricing in promoting the event and when selling tickets to the event.
