Music Correspondent, Mark Savage, reported that Ticketmaster may have deceived Oasis fans with unclear pricing during the sale of their reunion tour last year, according to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The CMA expressed concerns that Ticketmaster breached consumer protection laws by selling “platinum” tickets at almost 2.5 times the standard price, without disclosing any additional benefits associated with these tickets. This lack of transparency led consumers to believe that platinum tickets were superior, potentially misleading them.
In response to the investigation, Ticketmaster has been instructed by the CMA to modify how they label tickets and disclose prices to fans in the future. Ticketmaster has responded to the advice by stating their commitment to providing a straightforward, transparent, and consumer-friendly ticketing platform. They welcomed the input from the CMA to enhance the industry for fans.
More than 900,000 tickets were purchased for Oasis’s highly anticipated reunion tour when they went on sale on August 31 last year. However, many fans were disappointed when standard standing tickets initially priced at £135 plus fees were relabeled as “in demand” and increased to £355 plus fees on Ticketmaster. The fallout from this pricing controversy prompted Oasis to claim they were unaware of the use of dynamic pricing during the ticket sales.
The CMA’s investigation focused on determining whether Ticketmaster engaged in unfair commercial practices and pressured fans to buy tickets within a short period. While Ticketmaster denied using dynamic pricing to manipulate prices, the CMA highlighted the difficulty Oasis fans faced in making informed decisions due to the lack of clear pricing information. Despite some changes made by Ticketmaster since the Oasis sale, the CMA deemed these adjustments insufficient and expects further collaboration to ensure fans can make well-informed ticket purchases in the future
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