Has anything changed since the great Oasis ticket war?

Oasis’ reunion sparked ticket outrage across the UK (Picture: Big Brother Recordings)

Most of us were probably in the same place: glued to our computers and sitting in queues with over 500,000 other people, praying for a ticket.

As the hope of seeing the Gallagher brothers live dwindled, fans across the UK realised ticket purchasing had become the wild west, from scalping to climbing costs.

Politicians got involved as Prime Minister Keir Starmer blasted the debacle as ‘not fair’ after fans realised the eye-watering price of resale tickets.

At the time, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: ‘After the incredible news of Oasis’ return, it’s depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live.

Most of us lost the great Oasis ticket war (Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

‘This Government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of music. So we will include issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queuing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales.’

So, almost a year on and with Oasis’ tour well underway, has anything actually changed in the ticketing world?

Dynamic pricing drama

After making their way through a stressful and potentially scalper-filled queue, Oasis fans were faced with a tough decision: cough up double the face value or abandon all hope.

Dynamic pricing became the centre of a huge backlash as Ticketmaster, the site most people use, pushed up the price due to the tickets being ‘in demand’.

Fans were not warned before the sale that the gig tickets would be dynamically priced, with the decision reportedly in the hands of artists’ teams.

Dynamic pricing left fans feeling duped and angry (Picture: Big Brother Recordings)

Oasis denied knowing that demand pricing would be applied, with the feature removed for later sales for gigs outside of the UK. Fans who paid dynamic prices were not refunded the difference.

Unfortunately, we’re still in a position where surge pricing on tickets is legal, although some small changes are being made.

As of April, the Digital, Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC Act) bans the use of ‘drip pricing’ across every industry, so say goodbye to that sneaky booking fee added on at the end.

Under this, the Competition and Markets Authority have the ‘ability to decide when consumer law has been infringed and impose fines for poor corporate practice of up to 10% of worldwide turnover.’

Another positive step is that the industry bosses appear to have taken note of the sheer anger felt towards dynamic pricing and any artist who allows it to be used.

Fans are still trying to find resale tickets on the door (Picture: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Keeping fans sweet is one of the most important things for touring artists, so never underestimate the power of complaining incredibly loudly on a national scale.

Resale regrets

If you didn’t make it through the queue before tickets sold out, your attention will have turned to the world of resale tickets.

Prices plucked out of thin air, fake tickets, scammers rife — this is where fans are hoping to see some serious clamping down from the government.

Good news, the promised consultation on this is moving ahead. Bad news is it’s still in very early stages, with recent calls for fans to have their say in a consultation.

Ticket prices have been soaring over the past few years (Picture: Yui Mok/PA Wire)

Gareth Griffiths — director of partnerships and sponsorship at Virgin Media O2 — told Metro: ‘While the consultation earlier this year was a crucial first step toward reclaiming fairness in live music; with no news yet on legislation music fans continue to be at the mercy of touts making millions.’

He shared that O2’s latest research suggests some touts are flogging tickets at 500% above face value. They previously revealed this is costing music fans an extra £145m per year.

A cap on prices has been widely supported, including by O2’s ‘Stamp It Tout’ campaign, meaning resellers would be limited to a potential 30% inflation on face value (no word on if that includes dynamic prices).

Viagogo, one of the largest resellers, is concerned that this will drive sellers onto social media in hopes of securing a bigger profit and create more fraud.

They cited We Fight Fraud’s investigation into Premier League ticket-buying in March, which found that three out of four tickets purchased on social media were either fake or never arrived.

Fans were desperate to find tickets any way they could (Picture: Ben Montgomery/Getty Images)

Offers to buy tickets are rife on X, popping up immediately while sales are still going on.

A 25% chance of a real ticket is incredibly bad odds when you’re paying hundreds for a ticket, but social media is much harder to legislate than legitimate resale businesses.

Moving forward

Laws like the percentage resale cap, which has been proposed in the UK, are already in place in Ireland and Victoria, Australia, with effectiveness a mixed bag.

Ireland has not had any tout prosecutions since the ban on selling above face value in 2021; meanwhile, cases of fraud are said to be up 13.8% according to research by Bradshaw Advisory.

However, on the other side of this, their resale sites aren’t flooded with inflated ticket prices, and you can get genuine face value tickets after general sale.

Gareth added: ‘It’s important that government does not lose momentum and responds to the wishes of music fans with swift action.

‘At O2, we’re calling for a clear and enforceable 10% cap on the resale of tickets above face value – one that both incentivises fans to resell fairly when they can’t make a show, and disincentivises touts from operating at an industrial scale.

‘This is the only way to protect the UK’s live music industry and ensure tickets stay in the hands of real fans.’

Praising Lisa Nandy for reaffirming the law was moving forward, Adam concluded: ‘Come on then. Let’s get on with it.

‘Let’s make the UK’s live market the best in the world. Let’s get cracking.’ 

Metro has reached out to Ticketmaster and Lisa Nandy for comment.

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