The U.K. government has “secured formal commitments” from Ticketmaster that it will be more upfront with fans about ticket prices following an uproar over the Oasis reunion tour on-sale last year.
In a statement shared Thursday, Sept. 25, the Competition and Markets Authority said Ticketmaster will now “make sure fans have the information they need when they spend their hard-earned cash to see the artists they love. Ticketmaster will make it clear to fans what they will get for their money and give more information about different prices.”
The CMA launched its investigation into Ticketmaster last fall, after tickets for the Oasis reunion tour went on sale. During the chaotic event, fans encountered long lines and site crashes, and were often confounded by ticket prices that seemed to spike in price between the time fans selected them and when they checked out.
That led to allegations that Ticketmaster was using its controversial dynamic pricing model, which allows for price fluctuations based on demand. But the CMA said in its statement that it had “not found evidence” that dynamic pricing was used during the Oasis on-sale.
Still, the agency highlighted two other ways Ticketmaster was not fully upfront with fans. First, it found that the company did not tell fans that standing tickets were “being sold at 2 different prices, and that prices would jump as soon as the cheap tickets sold out.”
And second: “Ticketmaster sold some ‘platinum’ tickets at almost 2.5 times the price of ‘standard’ tickets — without sufficient explanation that these offered no additional benefits over some ‘standard’ tickets in the same areas of the venue.”
Going forward, the CMA said that Ticketmaster will have to tell fans 24 hours in advance “if a tiered pricing system is being used,” so they’ll know if there are “multiple prices for the same type of ticket, and that more expensive ones will be released” after the cheaper ones sell out. They’ll also have to provide fans with more information about the full range of ticket prices, and they won’t be able to use “misleading ticket labels” that “give the impression that one ticket is better than another when that is not the case.”
To ensure Ticketmaster sticks to these guidelines, the CMA is requiring it to submit regular reports over the next two years. “Failure to take forward these measures could result in enforcement action,” the agency said.
Sarah Cardell, Chief Executive of the CMA, said in a statement, “The changes we’ve secured will give fans more information about prices and clear descriptions of exactly what they are getting for their money. If Ticketmaster fails to deliver on these changes, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”
A rep for Ticketmaster U.K. did not immediately return a request for comment.
