Oasis ticket costs spur European lawmakers to kerb dynamic pricing

Frustration with hiked costs during the recent sale of tickets for an Oasis concert has triggered MEPs from across the political spectrum to call on the European Commission to halt so-called dynamic pricing for ticketing of concerts and other cultural events.

The call came from MEPs representing the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the European People’s Party (EPP) during an event at the European Parliament on Wednesday.

In September, Oasis tickets in Ireland and the UK sold for more than €400, despite the base price being set at €86 in Ireland — a price that thousands of buyers only discovered after hours of waiting in queues. Many others were unable to secure tickets at all. 

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) have launched investigations into how this sale was managed by Ticketmaster and whether competition or consumer protection laws were breached. 

After waiting ten years for the band’s reunion and queueing for four hours, Italian MEP Pierfrancesco Maran (S&D) vented at his inability to buy Oasis tickets. “It is a total rip-off for consumers,” he said, adding: “We don’t have to ‘Look Back in Anger’ at what happened, but we will see what we can do in the future.”

Maran has joined fellow MEP Brando Benifei in submitting a written question to the Commission, seeking clarification on whether dynamic pricing will be included in the upcoming Digital Fairness Act, asking if the EU faces antitrust issues in the live entertainment sector and whether the executive should launch an investigation. 

“This is an issue we intend to raise during the upcoming Commissioner hearings, particularly with Irish Commissioner McGrath,” he added, referring to the Irish commissioner designate.

Irish MEP Regina Doherty (EPP) said she was disappointed after failing to secure tickets she had hoped to gift her daughter, adding that she was keen to see what action an Irish Commissioner would take at European level against a practice heavily criticised in his home country. 

Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, is also facing action in the US, where it is under scrutiny of the Department of Justice over monopoly concerns. 

The MEPs clarified that they do not seek to ban dynamic pricing outright, acknowledging its usefulness in sectors like transport. However, they aim to limit its use in situations where prices only rise without any opportunity for them to decrease.