Oasis reunion tour: CMA launches official government enquiry into dynamic surge ticket pricing

nme.com:

Oasis reunion is to be investigated by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).Tickets for the 2025 stadium tour went on sale on Saturday (August 31) and promptly sold out at 7pm but some fans found they were priced out of tickets when they went to buy them, as the use of dynamic pricing meant the cost of tickets would go up or down without warning based on demand.This led to some fans who had been in the queue the entire day paying £355 for a ticket which was originally £135 when it came to confirm their purchase.Ticketmaster have clarified on their website previously that tickets that are “market-priced” “may increase or decrease at any time, based on demand.

This is similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.”The controversy led Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy to call for a review into dynamic pricing and secondary ticket sales, while Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the price hikes “depressing” at Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday (September 4).

In addition, the European Commission is also now investigating the issue. Now, the CMA have said through the official Government website that they will scrutinise “whether the sale of Oasis tickets by Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law”.Their investigation will consider whether Ticketmaster has engaged in illegal commercial practices, whether or not people were given “clear and timely information” about the use of dynamic pricing and what it involves, and whether people were pressured to buy tickets in a short period of time at a higher price than they were prepared to pay.The CMA will be engaging with Ticketmaster and gathering evidence from other sources, which may include Oasis’ management and the organisers of the reunion tour.