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Lisa Nandy has called the inflated selling of Oasis tickets “incredibly depressing” and revealed that surge pricing will be included in a government review of the ticket resale market.
Before Oasis fans were hit with ticket prices more than doubling from £148 to £355 on Ticketmaster, the government had pledged to “bring in protections to stop people being ripped off by touts”.
And after the furore over the weekend, the culture secretary said: “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.”
Ms Nandy said the government was 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,” she promised.
Ms Nandy added: “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.”
Ticketmaster faced a barrage of complaints after Oasis fans spent an entire day trying to secure tickets to the reunion tour only to be hit with the significantly higher prices.
The so-called dynamic or surge pricing policy, which has been heavily criticised in the past, is the system’s response to demand, increasing or decreasing prices in line with what scalpers would resell them for, keeping the money in-house for the seller and artist. It is permitted under consumer protection laws.
Dynamic pricing will now form part of the government’s promised review.
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.
Fans called the “in-demand” pricing both “sickening” and “scandalous”.
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.
House of Commons leader and Lord President of the Council Ms Powell said she ended up buying two tickets for £350 each for Heaton Park in July, which were originally quoted at £148.50, not including a booking fee of £2.75.
The Manchester Central MP told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Eventually (I) got through and bought a couple of tickets for more than I was expecting to pay.”
Ms Powell said she does not “particularly like” surge pricing, before adding: “It is the market and how it operates.”
“You’ve absolutely got to be transparent about that so that when people arrive after hours of waiting, they understand that the ticket is going to cost more,” she said.
It is believed the ticket prices for Oasis gigs were set by promoters.
The band’s promoters, Manchester-based SJM Concerts, Irish MCD and Scottish DF Concerts & Events have all been approached for comment.
Brothers Noel and Liam Gallagher confirmed their reunion on Tuesday following the end of their more than a decade long acrimonious split.
There has also been concern about the non-official sellers Viagogo, which on Sunday had a seat at Wembley on July 25 listed at £5,289.
The secondary seller has defended the practice saying fans sell the tickets, and its global managing director added: “Resale is legal in the UK and fans are always protected by our guarantee that they will receive their tickets in time for the event or their money back.”
Oasis has told followers that Ticketmaster and Twickets should only be used for resales, and put up for prices at “face value”, otherwise they will be “cancelled by the promoters”.
Oasis have also been contacted for comment.
