Appearing before MPs, Andrew Parsons – UK managing director at Ticketmaster – insisted it was event organisers that set the exorbitant price of the reunion tour
The boss of under-fire Ticketmaster has denied “ripping-off” music fans over the cost of gigs.
The industry giant was slammed last year by those desperate to get tickets for the Oasis reunion tour. Fans of the band were left fuming when, it was claimed, tickets more than doubled from £148 to £355 just after going on sale.
But appearing before MPs, Andrew Parsons, UK managing director at Ticketmaster, insisted it was event organisers that set the price. And he claimed the company did not employ the same sort of “dynamic pricing” used by budget airlines and hotels, where prices can rise depending on demand.
“That is not how the Ticketmaster website operates,” he said, adding prices were not set in an “automated way. There is no technologies that are driving any price change.”
He was asked: “Is it Ticketmaster that is jacking up the price as demand rises?” to which he answered: “It is very, very rare that the price will change.”
Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, put it to Mr Parsons: “Is Ticketmaster ripping-off fans who just want to go and see the shows they love?” Mr Parsons denied this, adding: “I think on the whole they are fairly priced.”
Mr Bryne later said: “We want answers that Ticketmaster is not operating like a bunch of sharks.”
MPs cited various examples were fans claim ticket prices had jumped, including a Harry Styles concert where they went from £155 to £386, and a Paul McCartney event where the top end price of £182.95 went to £592. Mr Parsons was adamant that “prices are set in advance”, adding: “In certain instances some of the cheaper tickets will sell through most quickly so the tickets found at the later point will be higher prices.” He repeated: “The prices are set in advance in conjunction with the event organisers. They are not changing. If anything, they tend to go down rather than up.” He added that around 90% of events didn’t sell out.
Those organisers can include Ticketmaster’s owner, Live Nation. It prompted Mr Byrne to ask: “One part of Live Nation is dictating the price to another part of Live Nation. That sounds like a conspiracy”. Mr Parsons denied this, saying event organisers made pricing decisions “with a whole bunch of stakeholders, and the artist is a key decision making in that discussion.”
The hearing was told Ticketmaster charged an average booking fee of 11% of the ticket price, which Mr Parsons claimed was “very reasonable”. He also claimed that the average price of an arena gig in the UK was just £5 higher than in 2018.
The Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into Ticketmaster last September over the sale of Oasis tickets for the band’s upcoming reunion tour, including how so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used.
The regulator is scrutinising whether the sale of Oasis tickets by Ticketmaster may have breached consumer protection law.
