A regulator said it was opening an investigation into Ticketmaster’s actions, but the company disputed that “dynamic pricing” came into play.
The return of Oasis, the chart-dominating bad boys of ’90s Britpop, has been one of the biggest stories on the music beat this summer, with a slate of surprise reunion shows in Britain and Ireland selling out instantly over the last week.
But the rush also introduced many fans to the frustrating vagaries of online ticketing, where the prices are not always what you expect (and they usually go up).
Last weekend, after the first batch of shows went on sale, angry Oasis fans took to social media to complain that many tickets that had been advertised at 148 British pounds (around $195) ended up more than doubling in price to £355 (about $468) by the time they went to pay.
The band came under fire, and in Britain — where the reconciliation of the group’s long-feuding leaders, Liam and Noel Gallagher, was front-page news — politicians readily took up the cause.
“About half the country was probably queuing for tickets over the weekend,” Keir Starmer, the prime minister, said in Parliament on Wednesday when asked about the furor. “But it is depressing to hear of price hikes.”
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Source: Music - nytimes.com
