The Gallagher Brows Revised: “When the Beatles Met Ticketmaster” and Their Friends Reveal Their Inflated Tickets, and How They Solved Their Backlash
The inflated ticketing backlash has been discussed by neither of the Gallagher brothers. In a statement to ITV News, Ticketmaster said it does not set prices. Not the only service retailing for Oasis, it is still another controversy for Ticketmaster after they failed due to the demand for Eras Tour tickets. More recently, the US Department of Justice highlighted the platform’s use of dynamic pricing as a means to unfairly drive up ticket prices.
Surge pricing is a system that pushes higher prices for products when demand increases. There are no laws in Britain that would make the practice illegal, but it was criticized for limiting access to music, sports, and theater events before the Labour party came into power.
Oasis, one of the most successful pop groups of the 90’s and 2000’s Britpop, ended its existence in 2009 due to infighting among band members Noel and Liam. The sour public relationship between the brothers makes this an unexpected reunion tour for many fans, driving the intense demand for tickets.
“Efforts like presale ballots can be helpful in curbing the immediate rush and chaos typically associated with ticket sales,” says Benjamin Fabre, cofounder of cyberfraud firm DataDome, “but they are not foolproof solutions against sophisticated bot attacks.”
Not all of the inflated ticket prices were the result of bots, however. After waiting hours in the queue, some fans reached the front only to find the price of tickets had more than doubled. This was due to dynamic pricing, a model that means the prices of tickets can change if there’s high demand. As tickets started to sell out on Saturday, fans urged bands and artists to push back against the use of dynamic pricing. (Ticketmaster did not respond to an email over the weekend seeking comment for this story.)
To be a part of the presale, fans had to submit a ballot correctly answering questions about the band. There are people who received a link to the pre-sale tickets and others who weren’t, so they were worried about a “Ticketmaster bloodbath” during the general on-sale.
The band announced on Friday that tickets for the upcoming shows went for as little as $100 per ticket, but fans on websites like X said they were seeing prices as high as $1,200 per ticket. The BBC reported that some tickets were going for as much as $7,800.