Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport and Chair-Elect of the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee, has held a debate in the House of Commons on dynamic ticket pricing.
Caroline used the debate to call on Culture Minister Chris Bryant to accept the recommendations of the Select Committee’s Grassroots Music Venues report.
Those recommendations included a Fan-Led Review of Music - similar to that undertaken by Dame Tracey Crouch for the football pyramid – and greater support for the live music ecosystem through a live music levy.
Caroline also called for a wider review into music concert ticketed mechanisms.
Tickets for Oasis’ “Live ‘25” reunion tour went on sale on 31 August. A reported 14 million fans entered a digital queue to buy 1 million tickets, with some fans waiting in the queue for ten hours.
A standard ticket cost £148 but due to the dynamic pricing mechanism some fans discovered after queueing that the price had more than doubled.
The Competition and Markets Authority have opened an investigation into the sale, which will consider whether people ‘were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ with prices changing depending on demand, and how this would operate, including the price they would pay for any tickets purchased’ and whether people ‘were put under pressure to buy tickets within a short period of time – at a higher price than they understood they would have to pay, potentially impacting their purchasing decisions’.
Speaking after the debate, Caroline said:
‘The Oasis ticket debacle has highlighted the rotten nature of the music ticketing market for all to see.
‘I am glad that the Government has included the primary market in its consultation but it’s clear from the lousy experience of fans that a wider review is needed.
‘The Grassroots Music Venues report that the Culture, Media, and Sport Committee produced made plenty of sensible suggestions to address issues within the live music sector and I hope that the Government examine them closely before responding to that report this Autumn.’
ENDS
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Caroline’s contribution in the debate can be watched here: https://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/d439fb88-5c5c-48c5-a0db-c715e09f78d2?in=18:30:22