Lisa Nandy promises resale ticket probe will look at surge pricing after Oasis furore
Wigan MP and culture secretary Lisa Nandy has called the inflated selling of Oasis tickets “incredibly depressing” as she revealed that surge pricing would be included in a Government review of the secondary gig sales market.
Before the furore from fans over standard 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”.
Ms Nandy released a statement saying: “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.
“This Government is 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.
“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.”
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 tickets as they battled with website issues and being mislabelled as bots, before Oasis announced all 17 shows had sold out.
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 Lucy Powell said she bought two tickets for £350 each for Heaton Park, which were originally quoted at £148.50.
The Manchester Central MP told BBC Radio 5 Live: “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.”
The band’s promoters – Manchester-based SJM Concerts, Irish MCD and Scottish DF Concerts & Events – have all been approached for comment.
There has also been concern about 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 told followers that Ticketmaster and Twickets should only be used for resales and at “face value”, otherwise they will be “cancelled by the promoters”.
Oasis have also been contacted for comment.
Meanwhile, the Advertising Standards Authority has received 450 complaints about Ticketmaster adverts for the gigs.
A spokesperson for the UK’s regulator of advertising said the complainants argue the adverts made “misleading claims about availability and pricing”.
They added: “We’re carefully assessing these complaints and, as such, can’t comment any further at this time.
“To emphasise, we are not currently investigating these ads.”