Oasis ticket sale ‘might have misled followers’ says watchdog

Ticketmaster “might have misled Oasis followers” with unclear pricing when it put their reunion tour on sale final 12 months, the UK’s competitors watchdog has mentioned.

The Competitors and Markets Authority (CMA) mentioned the corporate might have breached shopper safety regulation by promoting “platinum” tickets for nearly 2.5 occasions the usual value, with out explaining they got here with no extra advantages.

“This risked giving customers the deceptive impression that platinum tickets have been higher,” it mentioned in an replace to its investigation into Ticketmaster.

The CMA says it’s looking for adjustments to the way in which the ticketing platform provides clients info and the way it does so. Ticketmaster says it “welcomes” the recommendation.

“At Ticketmaster, we attempt to supply the very best ticketing platform via a easy, clear and consumer-friendly expertise,” a spokesperson informed the BBC, by way of e mail.

“We welcome the CMA’s enter in serving to make the trade even higher for followers.”

Greater than 900,000 tickets have been offered for Oasis’s long-awaited reunion tour, after they went on sale on 31 August final 12 months

However many followers have been ignored of pocket, when commonplace standing tickets marketed at £135 plus charges have been re-labelled “in demand” and altered on Ticketmaster to £355 plus charges.

Amid the fall-out, Oasis issued an announcement saying that they had no “consciousness that dynamic pricing was going for use” within the sale of tickets for the preliminary dates.

The CMA launched its investigation in September, to look at whether or not Ticketmaster had engaged in “unfair business practices,” and whether or not followers have been pressured to purchase tickets inside a brief time frame.

Ticketmaster subsequently denied utilizing “dynamic pricing” to control costs.

“We do not change costs in any automated or algorithmic method,” the corporate’s UK director, Andrew Parsons, informed MPs final month.

He maintained that every one costs are decided by artist groups and promoters – though, within the case of Oasis, the promoter, SJM Live shows, has ties to Ticketmaster’s dad or mum firm, Stay Nation.

The CMA didn’t touch upon the problem of dynamic pricing, however mentioned that Ticketmaster made it troublesome for Oasis followers to make “knowledgeable decisions”.

For instance, it mentioned, clients didn’t know that there have been “two classes of standing tickets at completely different costs, with all the cheaper standing tickets offered first”.

This resulted in “many followers ready in a prolonged queue with out understanding what they’d be paying after which having to determine whether or not to pay the next value than they anticipated,” the CMA continued.

The watchdog acknowledged that Ticketmaster had made some adjustments to its enterprise practices because the Oasis sale final August.

Nevertheless, it mentioned, “the CMA doesn’t presently take into account these adjustments are adequate to deal with its issues”.

“We now anticipate Ticketmaster to work with us to deal with these issues so, in future, followers could make well-informed choices when shopping for tickets,” mentioned Hayley Fletcher, interim senior director of shopper safety.

Oasis’s tour is ready to kick off in Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on 4 July, 2025.