A Deep-Dive into Ticketmaster’s Dynamic Pricing in the Oasis Ticket Sale

The tickets for the recently announced 2025 Oasis reunion tour went on sale on Saturday morning (August 31, 2024) via three ticketing sites: Gigs and Tours, See Tickets, and Ticketmaster. By 7 PM UK time that day, the band announced on their website that all gigs were sold out.

However, things definitely didn’t go smoothly. As anticipated, the reunion attracted much attention, with all three sites struggling with the demand and fans experiencing various technical difficulties. Allegedly, over 500,000 people joined in within the first minutes of the sale. And in total, 14 million people were reportedly expected to fight for 1.4 million tickets. As anyone can imagine, the technical issues were met with negative feedback from the public.

Dan Walker, the Channel 5 newsreader, commented on the situation, stating, “There has got to be a fairer, simpler, more efficient way of selling tickets that isn’t so open to touts, scammers, resellers and bots … in the queue, out of the queue, refresh/don’t refresh, wait in line, back of the line, accused of being a bot … timed out.”

Ticketmaster received notably more backlash than the other sites due to using ‘dynamic pricing’ tools during the sale — something that US music fans have infamously experienced during Bruce Springsteen’s 2023 US tour and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour ticket sale. We have also briefly dived into the Ticketmaster controversy in our blog article about how to sell a concert ticket.

Dynamic pricing is a pricing strategy that charges customers different prices for the same products or services based solely on fluctuations in market demand.

Ticketmaster has compared its use of dynamic pricing to the practices of hotels and airline companies, which commonly increase costs based on demand. On its website, it states that the ticket prices are set by promoters and artists. To that, the Live-Nation-owned company adds that “Prices can be either fixed or market-based. Market-based tickets are labeled as Platinum or In Demand.”

On Saturday, the ‘market-based’ tickets for the Oasis tour were labeled as ‘In Demand,’ which the company describes as “tickets to concerts and other events made available by artists and Event Organisers through Ticketmaster.” More importantly, however, ‘In Demand’ tickets are said to “give fans fair and safe access to sought-after seats at market-driven prices.”

The internet was flooded with stories of fans finding out about increased ticket prices as they reached the checkout after spending hours in the online queues. As reported by the BBC, “Dynamic pricing on Ticketmaster, where prices rise in line with demand, set some remaining tickets at more than £350 [$460] — up from £135 [$177] when the sale began.” Four such ‘In Demand’ tickets cost fans £1,423.55 in total, including a £73.55 fee. These tickets had no additional value than the original standing ticket priced at £135.

The unexpected inflation of ticket costs caught the attention of not only the frustrated and disappointed fans but also lawmakers and legal entities in the UK. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated a few days following the ticket sale that it was “urgently reviewing” the dynamic pricing in this case.

As experts explained, while dynamic pricing itself is not an unlawful practice, the core of the problem lies in Ticketmaster's failure to warn people that ticket prices might soar while they were queuing. This was also confirmed by the CMA spokesperson, saying, “Consumer protection law requires businesses to be fair and transparent in their dealings with consumers, and businesses must give clear and accurate information about the price people have to pay. Failure to do so may breach the law.”

Shortly after CMA’s reviewing of Ticketmaster’s actions, an official investigation was formally opened, interrogating Ticketmaster’s compliance with UK consumer protection laws. In a public statement, the CMA stated it is currently investigating and gathering evidence on whether:

• “Ticketmaster has engaged in unfair commercial practices which are prohibited under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008”;

• “People were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ with prices changing depending on demand, and how this would operate, including the price they would pay for any tickets purchased”; and

• “People were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time – at a higher price than they understood they would have to pay, potentially impacting their purchasing decisions.”

The organization also asked the fans who went through the sale to provide some evidence showcasing their ticketing experience.

Meanwhile, the scandal attracted the attention of local Senior Labour politician Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in the UK. Nandy revealed that the ‘outrageous’ and ‘scandalous’ ticket price soaring will be included in the upcoming government consultation this autumn. Ministers are reportedly set to discuss the issues surrounding transparency and the use of dynamic pricing in the ticketing industry in the UK “including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it.”

The European Union authorities did not stay blind to the current situation. While the concerts of the upcoming Oasis tour will (for now) only take in the UK and Ireland, the ticket sale was available online to the fans located in the countries of the EU, who have, therefore, been affected by the situation, too.

As confirmed by its spokesperson, the European Commission (EC) was looking into Ticketmaster’s use of dynamic pricing as part of its ‘fitness check’ of EU consumer laws to be published in the upcoming months.

Similarly to the CMA, the EC spokesperson acknowledged that the problem is not dynamic pricing but how it is used. If, for example, the ticket price is increased while already placed in the online basket, the ticketing company is breaching EU laws. The same applies if the ticketing company fails to provide consumers with “necessary material information” prior to the ticket purchase.

Many have highlighted that while dynamic pricing for concert tickets is fairly new in the UK and EU, it is common in the US, with Ticketmaster and Live Nation pretty much dominating the local market. However, this does not mean things are going well for the ticketing companies.

In fact, Live Nation is currently involved in a legal battle with The US Department of Justice over alleged “monopolization and other unlawful conduct that thwarts competition in markets across the live entertainment industry.” Ten additional US states joined the lawsuit in August this year. Additionally, one should not forget about Ticketmaster's major data breach, which the company confirmed in May this year.

As anticipated, the Gallaghers brothers have distanced themselves from the recent ticketing fiasco, instead pointing fingers at Ticketmaster. In an official statement issued to PA Media, the band clarified that they “leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management." The band also claimed to have had no awareness that dynamic pricing would be implemented for the initial ticket sale.

However, Oasis did acknowledge that the sale didn’t go as planned. The band stated that while the agreed-upon ticket sale strategy between the band, promoters, and Ticketmaster aimed to create "a fair experience for fans, including dynamic ticketing to help keep general ticket prices down as well as reduce touting, the execution of the plan failed to meet expectations.”

The statement came shortly after the band announced two additional shows at Wembley Stadium. Tickets for the new dates will be offered through a "staggered, invitation-only ballot process" to those fans who were unsuccessful during the initial Ticketmaster sale.

Music Business Worldwide’s Tim Ingham wrote a compelling analytical commentary on the ‘Ticketmaster X Oasis’ situation, predicting that this tour could shape the future of ticket reselling and scalping.

As expected, the concert tickets offered for resale on sites like Viagogo and Stubhub skyrocketed in price following the original sale. If you’re willing to pay thousands of dollars, tickets are still available, but certain complications may arise.

Before the sale began, Oasis announced in a statement that the "tickets can ONLY be resold, at face value, via Ticketmaster and Twickets. Tickets sold in breach of the terms and conditions will be cancelled by the promoters.”

So, could it really happen that fans purchasing resale Oasis tickets via Viagogo will have these tickets invalidated? According to Ingham, the answer is likely: Yes, it could, and yes, it will.

He draws from personal experience, during which he purchased resale tickets through the reselling platform, only to have Ticketmaster quickly recognize that the tickets were originally purchased in violation of the company’s T&Cs. As a result, he couldn’t attend the event or have the tickets refunded.

This and the fact that Noel Gallagher’s long-term managers have a strong stance against professional scalpers could suggest that Oasis resale tickets bought through unauthorized platforms will be canceled by Ticketmaster.

While this will surely be an unpleasant and heartbreaking experience for those affected, it may scare off others, potentially making it unprofitable for scalpers who have bought the tickets with the sole intention of selling them for profit.

If this is the case, frustrated scalpers might be forced to sell their tickets through Ticketmaster or Twickets for their original primary price. This could ultimately lead to a significant shift in the future of ticket scalping.