What is the row over dynamic pricing?

This weekend saw Oasis and Ticketmaster come under fire for using dynamic pricing for the band's reunion concerts set to take place next summer.

The Gallagher brothers will play at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium on 8, 9 and 10 August next year.

Thousands of fans reported waiting hours in an online queue to find out the tickets had more than doubled in price due to being “in demand”.

The sales controversy has sparked anger as the high prices meant many had to abandon their ticket quest after waiting most of a day to get it.

So, what is dynamic pricing?

It is a strategy which lets businesses set flexible prices based on demand. In other words, the higher the demand for the product or service, the higher the prices. Costs can change over the course of the same day, meaning buyers can pay more than others for access to the same event.

How long has it been around?

The strategy has long been used by the tourism industry, with hotels, airlines, and amusement parks often charging high prices during peak periods like school breaks or Christmas. However, it has recently come under significant criticism after Ticketmaster introduced it into its platform in 2022.

The ticketing company argued it adopted the strategy to discourage ticket touts as it meant prices would be offered closer to “market value”.

So, this is legal?

Yes, it is allowed under consumer protection laws. However, Ticketmaster allows artistic to opt out of the pricing strategy. For example, Taylor Swift, who played at Murrayfield in June, decided not to use it for her ticket pricing.

What happened over the weekend?

On Saturday morning, thousands of fans flocked to the Ticketmaster website to try to get a pass to one of the reunion gigs of the Gallagher brothers.

However, many were left looking back in anger as they found that after waiting hours to reach the checkout stage, ticket prices had more than doubled. Standing tickets, initially listed for £135, rose to more than £350.

They have now urged the band to reimburse them the difference between the original price and the final cost of the tickets.

And the Advertising Standards Authority has received 450 complaints saying that the concert adverts made “misleading claims about availability and pricing”.

Meanwhile, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute said the decision to use dynamic pricing could have breached the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, as customers were not informed about the change in price before joining the virtual queue.

What is the government doing about it?

Following the Oasis ticket fiasco, the UK Government has announced it will include dynamic pricing in a consultation into the ticket re-selling market, which was pledged by Labour in its election manifesto and is set to occur in autumn.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said it had been “depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live”. 

She added the government would include “issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queueing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales”.

It follows on from other MPs saying the Oasis tickets turmoil was a “watershed moment”.

Jamie Stone MP, the Liberal Democrats’ culture spokesperson, called Ticketmaster’s behaviour “scandalous” and said: “The Oasis ticket fiasco must be a watershed moment and lead to an official investigation, either by the watchdog or a parliamentary body.”

Meanwhile, Labour MP Charlotte Nichols described the strategy as “exploitative”.

She said: “Paying extra for some sort of benefit, closer view, or VIP experience, sure. But this is an exploitative business practice that’s only really possible because Ticketmaster’s been allowed to have a near-enough monopolistic position in the market.”