How the Oasis ticketing crisis will leave fans looking back in anger

Despite their supposed indifference, the Gallagher brothers have placed their relationship issues to one side and recently announced that Oasis will be making a very long-awaited comeback. But excitement from fans was extremely short lived as ticket prices quickly skyrocketed, leaving many disappointed. Following the announcement, fans of the iconic 90s rock band quickly flocked to Ticketmaster to try their luck at getting a ticket.

Despite many fans having to wait for hours on end in an online queue hell, a small number were able to buy the first set of tickets released for a fairly reasonable price. However, hundreds are now in utter outrage after finally getting to the front of the queue only to learn that ticket prices had more than doubled. With many fans left more out of pocket than the original ticket price tag promised, and others forced to completely give up on their dream of seeing the duo live once again, the nation and the Government are now bringing the issue to the fore.

These unfair price hikes are all down to dynamic pricing, also known as surge pricing, where businesses adjust prices in real time in response to rising demand. A great example is airlines and holiday companies, who are renowned for bumping up their prices when holidays are most in demand, e.g. the summer holidays and over weekends.

But the recent chaos Oasis fans have endured due to this controversial pricing strategy has sparked a probe into the model from the UK Government, with culture minister, Lisa Nandy, saying it is “depressing to see vastly inflated prices” on sites operated by authorised retailers. She added that “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 queueing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation of consumer protections for ticket resales.”

However, according to Ticketmaster, pricing is completely down to the “event organiser”, who “has priced these tickets according to their market value”, so does that mean that Oasis themselves are to blame for the current ticketing carnage? Either way, the dynamic pricing model used by companies can be extremely unfair towards consumers, especially if they are being misled regarding the price of goods and services, which is what we’ve seen in this particular case.

It’s highly likely that Ticketmaster’s reputation will have taken a hit after this whole debacle, so it’s vital that the issues surrounding dynamic pricing are addressed if the ticket retailer is to regain consumer confidence and trust once again.