Jarrow MP welcomes probe into ‘dynamic pricing’ following Oasis tickets sale

The Member of Parliament for Jarrow and Gateshead East, Kate Osborne, has welcomed a probe from the UK government into Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’.

It follows the hotly anticipated general sale for Oasis’ reunion on Saturday, August 31 - which saw the ticket selling website more than double prices from £148 to £355 due to the demand.

The Manchester Brit-pop band, who split 15 years ago, announced their long awaited reunion last week and tickets for their UK and Ireland gigs sold out in less than a day.

Lisa Nandy, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, released a statement on Sunday (September 1) which revealed that the government will look to work with the music industry to create a fairer system for fans.

She commented: “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.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the Jarrow and Gateshead East MP revealed that she had previously written to Ticketmaster on behalf of a constituent who experienced the same problems when purchasing AC/DC tickets.

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Ms Osborne said: “I'm pleased that Ministers will look at surge ticket pricing in a review following the Oasis pricing scandal.

“This rip off should not be allowed - I've already written to Ticketmaster after a constituent got in touch a few weeks ago when it happened to her buying AC/DC tickets!”

The PA news agency has reported that following the problems with ticket pricing, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received 450 complaints about Ticketmaster adverts for the Oasis gigs.

A spokesperson for the UK’s regulator of advertising said the complainants argue that the adverts made “misleading claims about availability and pricing”.

However despite the large number of complaints, the ASA has stated that it is not currently conducting an investigation into Ticketmaster’s adverts relating to Oasis.

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.”

Following the backlash to the ‘dynamic pricing’ of Oasis tickets, Ticketmaster has stated that it does not set the prices, with its website stating that this is down to the “event organiser” who “has priced these tickets according to their market value.”