Photo Credit: Simon Emmett
Since first announcing its reunion tour at the end of August, Oasis have become the center of heated discourse regarding ticketing practices for live music. Yesterday, the band’s troubled rollout hit yet another snag as Live ‘25 tour promoters began to telegraph a crackdown on the anti-resale policy, promising to cancel as many as 50,000 tickets currently listed on secondary platforms like Stubhub and Viagogo. As the legality of this pseudo-scalping is up for debate, Liam and Noel Gallagher are once again the focal point of a larger policy negotiation in the ticketing industry.
The Live ‘25 tour’s first release in the UK and Ireland saw more than 10 million fans queued for 1 million tickets, many of whom left frustrated at what was purportedly an early rollout for Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing mechanic in European markets. After severe backlash for unexpected price hikes–with some fans paying as much as £355 for standing tickets, more than double the original price of £148.50–the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority launched an investigation into “how so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used.”
In theory, this mechanic discourages ticket-touting, in turn enabling a significant portion of fans to secure tickets for less than the going market rate. In practice, thousands of Oasis passes flooded secondary ticketing outlets within the hours after the release, largely at considerably inflated prices; tour promoters Live Nation and SJM told the BBC that four percent of the million tickets landed on unauthorized resale sites–just shy of 50,000.
As the organizations had encouraged fans “not to purchase tickets from unauthorised websites as some of these may be fraudulent and others subject to cancellation,” they now intend to act on those warnings. According to the promoters, the process of invalidating all of these policy-violating tickets will begin soon, and the reclaimed inventory will be activated again on Ticketmaster at face value.
“These terms and conditions were successfully put in place to take action against secondary ticketing companies reselling tickets for huge profit,” a company spokesperson disclosed in a statement. “Only four percent of tickets have ended up on resale sites. Some major tours can see up to 20 percent of tickets appearing via the major unauthorised secondary platforms.”
Despite these warnings, Viagogo told the BBC that it will not stop selling second-hand tickets within the guidelines of the law. “Two percent of Oasis tickets are on Viagogo and Stubhub,” business development lead Matt Drew outlined. “We will continue to sell them in the way the regulator says we can. We are serving a clear consumer need, we will continue doing it on that basis.” Though violating the ticketing policy of sale only via Ticketmaster or resale partner Twickets, Viagogo operates legally by selling only legitimately obtained tickets and notifying buyers of the promoters’ policies.
It has not yet been determined whether the imminent enactment of the ticket cancellation policy will apply to Oasis’ North American tour, or only its preceding UK and Ireland dates. Stateside fans have faced issues of their own, however, as despite turning from the dynamic pricing model for its North American tour, Oasis’ return has spurred an eruption of counterfeiting. At the beginning of October, the National Independent Venue Association called for congressional action when it found that a whopping 9,000 fake tickets for the Live ‘25 tour were currently listed on resale sites–before the official sale had even begun.
With backlash flying at Ticketmaster and resellers alike, the band itself has not been immune to criticism, either. Despite the Gallaghers’ claims that they “leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management,” the Britpop duo closing a 16-year live hiatus has come under fire for abetting price gouging from both fans in the UK and The Cure’s Robert Smith, who had some choice, if indirect, words for the duo and others of their esteem.
In an Oct. 13 interview with The Times on his own legacy act’s revival tour, Smith stated, “It was easy to set ticket prices, but you need to be pig-headed. We didn’t allow dynamic pricing because it’s a scam that would disappear if every artist said, ‘I don’t want that!’ But most artists hide behind management. ‘Oh, we didn’t know,’ they say. They all know. If they say they do not, they’re either f–king stupid or lying. It’s just driven by greed.”
And so the cycle continues. Oasis will run through a 17-stop UK and Ireland tour from July 4 to August 17 of next year, then head to North America for nine shows from Aug. 25 to Sept. 13 before five final Australian stagings in October and November. Knowing the band, they’re bound to be in the headlines again before then. Stay tuned for the next curveball.
For more information on Oasis’ Live ‘25 tour, visit oasisinet.com.
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