Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing system’ was criticised by appalled Oasis fans this morning as tickets for the band’s sought-after reunion tour reached as high as £355.
The system, which has regularly been used in America, works by altering the prices of tickets based on demand similar to an Uber journey or seats on flights.
An explanation on Ticketmaster’s website about the ‘on-demand standing ticket’ price says: ‘The event organiser has priced these tickets according to their market value.
‘Tickets do not include VIP packages. Availability and pricing are subject to change.’
Ticketmaster says dynamic pricing prevents touts and gives more money to the artists.
But it has left fans and industry experts fuming with people saying the ‘inflated prices’ were just as much as the touts charge.
Dynamic pricing is a relatively new phenomenon in the UK but it has already enraged the fans of Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles.
It works on the logic that by increasing prices on official websites, touts will be scared off and Ticketmaster and the artists will be able to keep the extra profit.
But standing tickets for Oasis today were being listed at more than double their original face value on Ticketmaster – £350 compared to £151.25.
A similar phenomenon occurred with tickets for Harry Styles’s concert at Slane Castle last year when tickets on the site were sold for €195 instead of €97.
Superfan Rebecca McGowan said she put two £155 tickets for the concert in her basket but when she went to buy them, Ticketmaster said they were no longer available.
She told the BBC ‘I scrolled down the screen and it said, ‘pit tickets £386 each’ for the same area.
‘Lo and behold I could get them – but I refused because they were the same tickets. It really annoyed me.’
Ms McGowan explained that they were the same tickets but had just increased in price when she went to buy them.
Bruce Springsteen, however, hit back at criticism of the prices of his concerts saying ‘most of my tickets are affordable’.
The iconic rocker was slammed in July 2022 after tickets for his 2023 Springsteen and the E Street Band tour rose to almost $5000 for a floor seat on Ticketmaster.
Springsteen said his use of the dynamic pricing model was sparked by his desire to ’emulate what other acts are doing’ after decades of playing ‘under market value.’
He said: ‘What I do is a very simple thing. I tell my guys, “Go out and see what everybody else is doing. Let’s charge a little less.” That’s generally the directions. They go out and set it up. For the past 49 years or however long we’ve been playing, we’ve pretty much been out there under market value. I’ve enjoyed that. It’s been great for the fans.
‘This time I told them, “Hey, we’re 73 years old. The guys are there. I want to do what everybody else is doing, my peers.” So that’s what happened. That’s what they did.’
‘But ticket buying has gotten very confusing, not just for the fans, but for the artists also. And the bottom line is that most of our tickets are totally affordable. They’re in that affordable range.’
Today, dozens of people took to X/Twitter to share their frustration at the inflated prices of Oasis tickets.
Journalist Gavan Reilly posted: ‘After 105 minutes in the queue: only tickets left for Oasis on Sunday are ‘official platinum tickets’ (€490.50) and ‘in demand standing tickets’ (€415.50).
‘Neither has any VIP element: it’s literally just Ticketmaster incorporating tout pricing into the ‘face value’ proposition.’
Darragh Moriarty, City Councillor for South West and Inner City, and Labour Leader on Dublin City Council, chimed in: ”In demand standing ticket’ is just a standard standing ticket except double the price. No difference between Ticketmaster and touts.’
Mr Moriarty shared apparent screenshots from the Ticketmaster website offering In Demand standing tickets for 415.50 euros each, plus fees – equivalent to around £350.
Meanwhile, on ticket resale websites, prices ranged, but the lowest seen on Saturday afternoon was £537 while the highest was £14,104.
A handful of standing tickets were on sale for the London shows on Viagogo on Saturday, ranging from £773 to £1,512. Seated tickets for London ranged from £655 to £5,971.
On StubHub, standing tickets for the London concerts ranged from £904 to £4,519, while seated tickets started at £843 and went up to £14,104.
For Cardiff, StubHub customers could get standing tickets from £959 to £4,519 and seated tickets from £549 to £6,029.
Original prices for a seat to watch the band at London’s Wembley Stadium began at £74.25, with the most expensive ticket a £506.25 pre-show party, exhibition and seated package.
Ticketmaster previously defended dynamic pricing saying: ‘Like sports teams, artist representatives and promoters recognise the benefit of pricing tickets closer to market value.’
It added that it was ‘an important shift necessary to maintaining the vibrancy and creativity of the live music industry’.
The company, however, notes that they do not have any say on the face value price of a ticket.
‘That is decided by the event organiser. What we do have a say over is the price that is displayed to you and we always ensure that you see the total price you will need to pay right from the beginning – we never hide our fees.’