The UK government will include dynamic pricing in a forthcoming consultation into ticketing amid concerns over ticket prices for Oasis’ 2025 reunion tour.
The consultation, which will start in the autumn, is to focus on secondary ticketing and the negative impact on fans from resale websites. Labour pledged to tackle ticket touts in its manifesto.
In addition, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has now confirmed that dynamic pricing will be covered by the consultation. It follows the launch of the Oasis Live ’25 stadium tour at the weekend (August 31), with some fans complaining that prices increased from £135 to more than £350 (with booking fees).
Dynamic pricing on Ticketmaster saw prices increase in response to the huge demand. Promoters and artists, not Ticketmaster, set ticket prices. They can be either fixed or market-based (surge pricing), which is allowed under consumer protection laws.
Music Week has requested a comment from Oasis on the surge pricing for the tour, which is promoted by Live Nation, SJM, DF Concerts and MCD. The band added extra dates for the tour, which now includes five dates at Manchester Heaton Park and five at London Wembley Stadium, in addition to shows in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Dublin.
All dates sold out by Saturday evening with speculation that more will now be added.
This government is committed to putting fans back at the heart of music
Lisa Nandy
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.
“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.
“Working with artists, industry and fans we can create a fairer system that ends the scourge of touts, rip-off resales and ensures tickets at fair prices.”
Fellow minister Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons and a Manchester MP, admitted that she had paid double the original quoted price for an Oasis gig.
She told BBC Radio 5 Live that she did not "particularly like" surge pricing, but that "it is the market and how it operates".
Jonathan Brown, chief executive of the Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers (STAR), has praised its members – all authorised ticketing websites – for coping with the "enormous demand" for Oasis tickets.
Oasis have partnered with Twickets (a STAR member) as their official ticket resale platform, to ensure their 2025 UK tour tickets are resold for no more than face value and booking fees.
Richard Davies, founder of Twickets, said: "Due to the exceptional demand for the Oasis tour in 2025, Twickets have taken the decision to lower our booking fee to 10% plus a 1% transactional fee (to cover bank charges) for all buyers of their tickets on our platform. In addition we have introduced a fee cap of £25 per ticket for these shows. Sellers of tickets already sell free of any Twickets charge.
"This ensures that Twickets remains hugely competitive against the secondary market, including sites such as Viagogo, Gigsberg and StubHub. Not only do these platforms inflate ticket prices way beyond their original face value but they also charge excessive booking fees, usually in the region of 30-40%. Twickets by comparison charges an average fee of around 12.5%."
He added: "The face value of a ticket is the total amount it was first purchased for, including any booking fee. Twickets does not set the face value price, that is determined by the event and the original ticketing company. The price listed on our platform is set by the seller, however no one is permitted to sell above the face-value on Twickets, and every ticket is checked before listing that it complies with this policy."
PHOTO: Simon Emmett
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