Ticketmaster undergoing investigation following Oasis ticket sales
Following the massive number of people lining up for the long-awaited Oasis reunion, concert industry mogul Ticketmaster is now under investigation for its ticket-selling practices.
After the Gallagher brothers’ hotly anticipated reunion was finally announced on August 27th, the initial sales on the 31st left many fans waiting in queues for hours trying to get tickets, which resulted in some of the prices being raised as per dynamic pricing policies.
Now the Competition and Markets Authority are investigating the vendor. They hope to ascertain how any form of “dynamic” pricing may have been used to get the most profit out of the sale. The investigation is seeking to learn whether Ticketmaster’s practices “may have breached consumer protection law”.
The dynamic pricing of the reunion shows was not disclosed to the fans, which led to the prices going from £148 to £355m in many cases. While the band had warned against the use of counterfeit sites, they did name Ticketmaster as one of the main outlets that they would use for resale.
Following the massive uptick in prices, The Competition and Markets Authority also seeks to determine whether any concertgoers were given word about the increase in price in a timely manner and that dynamic pricing would be a factor.
In addition to asking for a thorough look into Ticketmaster’s practices, fans are also being asked to submit screenshots of their experience.
CMA executive Sarah Cardell explained that they want to hear from fans directly regarding their treatment during the sale, saying, “We want to hear from fans who went through the process and may have encountered issues so that we can investigate whether existing consumer protection law has been breached.”
Following the backlash, the band also released a statement regarding the prices, stating in a press release, “Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management, and at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used.”
The group’s statement would go on to say that while they employed a dynamic pricing strategy to keep prices down, they realised that the demand made it impossible for their fans to have the best experience when waiting in queues.
Since then, the Britpop legends have also announced their plans to add more shows at Wembley Stadium due to the massive demand. As of yet, there has been no announcement of any further shows taking place outside of Europe for the Live ’25 dates.
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