Lots of us have been there. A much-loved band announces new dates. But the tickets are sold by Ticketmaster. And all hell unfolds.
The online wait for tickets is endless. Or the system simply crashes. We get booted out of the queue by so-called ‘anti-bot’ checks. Then the ticket price mysteriously jumps by the time we get to check-out.
It’s an unhappy experience that’s outraged millions of fans in America and Britain and it all smells pretty suspicious. So, the Business and Trade Committee hauled in Ticketmaster for some questions as we open a new line of enquiry into ‘rip-off Britain.’
Right now, there’s nothing illegal about ‘dynamic pricing’. Ticketmaster claim they don’t use it. But the Oasis ticket scandal last year outraged fans as ticket prices multiplied to thousands of pounds. Now they’re under investigation.
For many years, pubs and the hospitality trade have nudged up prices at certain times of the week, charging a little extra at the weekend to make enough money to stay open during the week. Airlines and taxi firms use the same idea.
You might get a discount by buying early. Or conversely, fares might be more expensive late at night.
But there are now too many examples of firms pulling a fast one over consumers for us to ignore this any longer.
And that’s especially true for firms like Ticketmaster whose sister company Live Nation has been busy buying up venues and promoters left, right and centre to round out their business selling tickets.
So, the company will control the artists and the prices they set; they’ll control the venue which collects another slice of the cash. And, of course, they control the firm that sells the tickets, with the power to drip, drip, drip tickets onto the market to maximise their profit.
All hell broke loose in America last year when the firm got into big trouble for the way in which it was selling tickets for Taylor Swift’s global tour.
The firm was brought up before the Senate to answer accusations that its owners – Live Nation – had basically become a monopoly – and were charging monopoly prices.
Worse, there’s evidence that those in need or living in poverty are at the sharpest end of sharp practice.
And there are fears that dynamic pricing might spread to football.
Ticketmaster told my committee its hands are clean. They denied influencing ticket prices – and said the event organiser has full autonomy on this – but we on the committee knew that Ticketmasters parent company, Live Nation, routinely negotiates with itself in regards to costs.
The government has just opened a consultation on how best to sort this out.
No one objects to firms charging a just price for goods or services. But too many firms appear to have lost all sense of the old English ideal of ‘fair’s fair.’ And it’s about time we did something about it.
