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Ticketmaster has been forced by the competition watchdog to change how it advertises concert tickets, including an end to “misleading” information about the seats they are buying, after a fan backlash over its handling of the Oasis reunion tour.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation into Ticketmaster last year, after bitter complaints from fans of the Mancunian rock group about how tickets for the band’s long-awaited return to the stage were priced.
The comeback shows, arranged after a rapprochement between the warring Gallagher brothers who front the band, were initially advertised at £148.50.
By the time fans reached the front of online queues after hours of waiting – not to mention 16 years without any Oasis gigs at all – some were faced with minutes to decide whether to go ahead at a much higher price, in some cases more than £350.
Amid outrage over allegations that Ticketmaster used “dynamic pricing” – a technique where the cost of a product is adjusted in response to demand – the CMA launched an investigation into the company, the primary ticket agent for the tour.
On Thursday, the CMA said that, contrary to popular belief, it had “not found evidence” that Ticketmaster used algorithmic dynamic pricing to adjust the price of tickets for Oasis in real time.
But the CMA said it had “secured formal commitments” from Ticketmaster to make sure fans were given more information about different ticket prices.
The company will have to tell fans 24 hours in advance if a “tiered” pricing system is being used as it was for Oasis standing tickets. It will also have to provide more information during online queueing, so fans know when the cheaper batch of tickets have sold out and can get a better idea of what they might end up paying.
It must also not use any “misleading” labels that give the impression that one ticket is better then another, when it is not. The CMA will demand regular reports on its progress over the next two years, risking “enforcement action” if it does not comply with the CMA’s demands.
“Fans who spend their hard-earned money to see artists they love deserve to see clear, accurate information, upfront,” said the CMA chief executive, Sarah Cardell.
“If Ticketmaster fails to deliver on these changes, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster said: “We welcome the CMA’s confirmation there was no dynamic pricing, no unfair practices and that we did not breach consumer law. To further improve the customer experience, we’ve voluntarily committed to clearer communication about ticket prices in queues.
“This builds on our capped resale, strong bot protection, and clear pricing displays – and we encourage the CMA to hold the entire industry to these same standards.”
The CMA’s rhetoric about Ticketmaster’s role in the sale of tickets for the tour – which returns to Wembley stadium on Saturday – has escalated in the months since they went on sale.
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Consumer rights organisations were the first to warn that Ticketmaster may have broken the law by failing to state clearly that the original advertised price of the ticket might change by the time fans had the chance to confirm the purchase.
In March this year, the CMA said it shared these concerns, warning that Ticketmaster may have “breached” consumer protection law by labelling certain seats as “platinum”, and selling them for almost 2.5 times the price of standard equivalent tickets.
The watchdog said the ticket agent, which sold 900,000 tickets for the 41-tour show, had done this without clearly explaining that the seats did not offer additional benefits and were often located in the same area as standard tickets.
Then, just days before the tour was due to start in July this year, the CMA threatened legal action against Ticketmaster for failing to do enough to address its concerns about transparency.
The watchdog’s action comes as Ticketmaster and its parent company LiveNation are facing a parallel action in the US over allegations that the company of using illegal ticket resale tactics, costing consumers millions of dollars.
The Federal Trade Commission and seven US states, said the entertainment giant worked with touts who buy concert tickets and sell those tickets at a “substantial” mark-up, in violation of consumer protection law.
In the UK, the government is considering whether to ban the resale of ticket for above a fixed percentage of face value, a measure that would severely crimp or destroy the business model of resale sites such as Viagogo and StubHub.
