Oasis reunion tour: Why are fans angry with Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model?

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday (September 5) that the price hike was “depressing” and he was committed to putting fans at the heart of the music experience.

What is dynamic pricing?

Dynamic pricing is based on the law of demand in economics. As the demand for an item increases given the supply stays steady, its price will also increase. Other factors like the presence of competitors and customer behaviour also influence prices.

For instance, ride-sharing companies like Uber and Ola use “surge pricing” where increased demand for services (say during peak traffic hours) results in higher charges. Airlines also actively use dynamic pricing to charge different passengers different prices for the same seats, depending on when tickets were booked, the popularity of the flight route, and so on.

And what is Ticketmaster?

Ticketmaster is a major American ticket sales and distribution company. It manages 82 per cent of the major amphitheatres and 78 per cent of the highest-selling arenas in the US, according to data from the American Economic Liberties Project.

Following its 2010 merger with Live Nation, then the biggest concert promotion company, the combined Live Nation Entertainment has virtually established a monopoly in the concert world.

This status has allegedly allowed the company to exploit its market position. A 2018 investigation from The New York Times showed that LiveNation Entertainment pulled shows in 2013 from the Atlanta Gwinnett Centre to punish the venue for switching to a competitor.

Why is Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model so contentious?

Over the years, Ticketmaster has made several changes to its ticketing process. In the US, it incorporated the dynamic pricing model over the last decade to prevent scalpers and bots from purchasing tickets to resell at a premium. This has had mixed success, astronomically driving up the prices of concert tickets in the process.

The ticketing company earned the ire of Taylor Swift fans trying to book tickets for her much-awaited live show, The Eras Tour. A 2022 Fortune article thus described the booking process: while the artist sets the face value price ranges for the tickets, Ticketmaster then adds service fees amounting to 27% of the ticket price, processing fees, delivery fees, and facility fees. Together, the total cost increases by about 40%.

Additionally, the ticketing company capitalises on fans of major artists competing for the ticket and deploys its dynamic pricing algorithm, pushing up prices. Meanwhile, the resale tickets can go up to $1,000.

Unlike American concert-goers used to this system, the same cannot be said of the UK and EU, with Ireland on Thursday even moving to ban the practice in ticket sales.

In the Oasis fiasco, a repeat of the Eras mayhem

In 2022, Swifties were initially asked to pre-register on Ticketmaster for a presale code but were instead put on a waiting list. Once the presale window opened on November 15, the website crashed almost immediately.

While 2 million tickets were sold, Ticketmaster reported that “15 per cent of interactions across the site experienced issues during the presale” owing to “bot attacks and unprecedented demand.” Hours later, the website cancelled the general ticket sale. The US Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to examine what went wrong, and politicians across the aisle heavily criticised Ticketmaster.

A similar situation seems to have unfolded with the Oasis reunion tour: Fans in the UK encountered website errors after waiting for hours and found themselves shelling out up to 355 pounds for a ticket marked at 150 pounds.

What punitive action has been taken against Ticketmaster?

EUROPE: The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on September 5 said it would investigate if Ticketmaster had engaged in “unfair commercial practices”. The CMA said it would investigate if “clear and timely” information was provided to explain to fans that tickets could be subject to dynamic pricing, and if they were pressured to buy tickets in a short period, seeking evidence from the fans.

The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, said on September 4 that it would evaluate whether current EU consumer laws are equipped to address issues stemming from online dynamic pricing. The EC will not directly investigate Oasis or Ticketmaster but leave the actual investigation to each member country’s consumer watchdog.

The US: Ticketmaster faces many legal woes in the US. Following the Eras Tour issue, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and 30 states filed a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment for the “monopolisation and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry.” While hearings may not begin until 2026, a DoJ victory could result in the company breaking up in some way, freeing up space for competition.