The UK’s competition watchdog says it has secured commitments from Ticketmaster to make ticket sales more transparent, following an investigation into the sale of tickets to the UK and Ireland leg of Oasis’ reunion tour.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also said it had “not found evidence” that Ticketmaster used “dynamic pricing” in the on-sale of Oasis tickets. Dynamic pricing adjusts ticket prices in real time based on demand, and has proven controversial among some concertgoers due to sudden spikes in prices.
In a statement released on Thursday (September 25), the CMA said Live Nation-owned Ticketmaster committed to telling fans 24 hours in advance if it’s using a tiered pricing system.
“This means fans will know beforehand if there are multiple prices for the same type of ticket, and that more expensive ones will be released once the cheapest sell out,” the CMA said.
Ticketmaster will also inform ticket-buyers who join a queue of the range of ticket prices available, and will inform those in line when cheaper tickets sell out. The company also committed to not using “any misleading ticket labels,” the CMA said.
The watchdog launched an investigation into Ticketmaster in September 2024, following the sale of Oasis tickets which some news reports said involved dynamic pricing, and saw large spikes in the prices of tickets during the sale.
The sale was marred by technical problems, which may have been linked to a large number of bots attempting to buy up the available tickets. The shows sold out on the first day of the on-sale, with more than 900,000 tickets sold.
In March of this year, the CMA said it had identified two key problems with Ticketmaster’s sales of Oasis tickets:
- The watchdog claimed Ticketmaster labeled certain seated tickets as “platinum” and sold them for nearly 2.5 times the price of equivalent standard tickets, “without sufficiently explaining that they did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area of the stadium.”
- The CMA also alleged that Ticketmaster “did not inform consumers that there were two categories of standing tickets at different prices, with all of the cheaper standing tickets sold first before the more expensive standing tickets were released.”
The CMA then appeared to put pressure on Ticketmaster, writing in a letter in July that it had “discharged its obligation to consult with Ticketmaster” as “no undertakings have been offered or agreed.”
“We can’t ensure every fan gets a ticket for events as popular as the Oasis tour, but we can help ensure that next time an event like this comes along, fans have the information they need, when they need it.”
Sarah Cardell, Competition and Markets Authority
That appears to have now changed, with the CMA saying that Ticketmaster had agreed to several “undertakings” in response to the CMA probe.
“These undertakings have been provided to the CMA voluntarily and without any admission of wrongdoing or liability,” the CMA said. “Ticketmaster has stopped using ‘platinum’ labels in the UK, separate to providing undertakings.”
“Fans who spend their hard-earned money to see artists they love deserve to see clear, accurate information, upfront,” CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said.
“We can’t ensure every fan gets a ticket for events as popular as the Oasis tour, but we can help ensure that next time an event like this comes along, fans have the information they need, when they need it.”
The CMA also indicated that dynamic pricing wasn’t used in the Oasis on-sale.
“While many fans were under the impression that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model during the Oasis sale – with ticket prices adjusted in real time according to changing conditions like high demand – also known as ‘dynamic pricing’, the CMA has not found evidence that this was the case,” the CMA wrote.
“We welcome the CMA’s confirmation there was no dynamic pricing, no unfair practices and that we did not breach consumer law,” Ticketmaster said in a statement. “To further improve the customer experience, we’ve voluntarily committed to clearer communication about ticket prices in queues.”
It added: “This builds on our capped resale, strong bot protection and clear pricing displays – and we encourage the CMA to hold the entire industry to these same standards.”
In comments earlier this year, Live Nation CFO Joe Berchtold said that, more often than not, dynamic pricing results in lower, not higher, ticket prices.
“Most of our so-called dynamic pricing is actually – I’m reducing the price of tickets that haven’t sold yet, because I see that the market clearing price, I’m not quite there,” Berchtold said at a JPMorgan Chase conference in May.
“By definition, you can never raise the price of a ticket you’ve already sold. So… that’s why most of your dynamic pricing is actually lowering the price.”Music Business Worldwide
