Ticketmaster advertising UK

Photo Credit: Obi

Ticketmaster has been forced by the UK’s competition watchdog agency to change its sales tactics after backlash over its handling of the Oasis tour.

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has announced that Ticketmaster has agreed to make changes to its sales tactics after pressure from the watchdog agency. This includes ending “misleading” information about the seats customers are buying, following fan backlash for Ticketmaster’s handling of the Oasis reunion tour.

The news follows a year-long investigation by the CMA, launched after numerous complaints from fans over pricing for Manchester rock duo Oasis’ long-awaited return to the stage. Practices to be curbed include increasing prices while customers are in a digital queue for tickets, and offering “platinum” tickets for more than twice the price of regular seats, even though the tickets include no additional benefits.

Much of the backlash surrounds Ticketmaster’s alleged use of “dynamic pricing,” in which the cost of tickets is adjusted in response to demand. But the CMA announced today (September 25) that it had “not found evidence” that Ticketmaster used algorithmic dynamic pricing to adjust Oasis ticket prices in real time; instead, they used “tiered” pricing, where the same or similar tickets are sold for vastly different prices.

Now, Ticketmaster will be required to tell fans 24 hours in advance if a tiered pricing system is being used, to which tickets it applies, and how it works. When the sale goes live, Ticketmaster will be required to give the price range for tickets and update the range as tickets sell out.

Further, the company must not use any “misleading” labels that give the impression one ticket is better or more exclusive than another when there is no difference between them. Ticketmaster will deliver regular reports to the CMA on its progress over the next two years, risking “enforcement action” if it fails to comply.

“Fans who spend their hard-earned money to see artists they love deserve to see clear, accurate information upfront,” said CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell. “If Ticketmaster fails to deliver on these changes, we won’t hesitate to take further action.”

While consumer rights organizations like Which? expressed disappointment that the CMA had not demanded refunds for fans who felt ripped off by Ticketmaster’s practices, other ticketing reform advocates have applauded the move.

The CMA’s action comes as Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation, face similar action in the U.S. over allegations that the company used illegal ticket resale tactics. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and seven U.S. states said the live event business worked with resellers who buy up tickets and post them at a “substantial” markup on the secondary market.

The UK government, meanwhile, is considering whether to ban the resale of tickets at above a fixed percentage of their face value—a move that could severely hinder the business models of resale platforms.