Don’t Look Back in Anger: The Impact of Dynamic Pricing on Oasis Ticketing

The Oasis reunion tour, one of the most anticipated events of the year, has reignited discussions around dynamic pricing in ticketing. Prices for the event, initially advertised between £86.50 and £150, soared to over £400 due to real-time demand adjustments, leaving fans outraged. This controversy highlights both the potential and risks of dynamic pricing, especially when it comes to consumer trust and brand loyalty.

What Is Dynamic Pricing?

Dynamic pricing is a strategy that adjusts prices based on real-time demand. Algorithms drive this model, analyzing factors like buyer interest, market conditions, and timing to set ticket prices. While this approach has been successful in industries like airlines and hospitality, its use in live event ticketing has proven to be more contentious.

The nature of dynamic pricing is to identify those with a greater need or higher willingness to pay. Fans in music or sports might argue that those with the greatest need are the very fans who helped establish and elevate the team or musician to their current stature and should be rewarded for their loyalty. This is very different from charging a higher price for a last-minute flight due to an unplanned business meeting, where the additional cost can be justified by saving substantial revenue or gaining incremental profits by a large corporation.

Dynamic pricing is also meant to flatten demand curves, encouraging customers to book when an airline, hotel, or theme park has underutilized capacity. This allows everyone to enjoy the experience while making reasonable trade-offs with time.

In this case however, the situation is unique. The combination of a very large Oasis fan base, most of whom are at a stage in their lives (40+) where they can afford to splurge on an experience that delivers both performance and nostalgia, has driven ticket fever. Fans are prepared to spend because they feel this reunion may never happen again. But the lack of a more affordable option left price-sensitive fans without alternatives, turning a “not now” decision into a “not ever” scenario.

Ticketmaster and the promoters rightly predicted the lucrative potential of this fan base and ensured they got their share of the excitement. However, they may have underestimated the negative impact on this same audience.

Where Did It All Go Wrong? – The Consumer Backlash

Humans crave certainty, and when ticket prices were initially advertised, fans believed they had a clear idea of what they could afford. However, upon reaching the checkout, many were shocked to find their budget only covered a commemorative T-shirt and a beer. Fans felt blindsided by the price hikes, with tickets soaring beyond £400—far more than the initial range.

Many fans who had been excited about the concert found themselves priced out, leading to frustration and alienation. The perception is that dynamic pricing disproportionately benefits ticketing platforms and the wealthy, rather than the fans or artists. This erodes loyalty toward a platform like Ticketmaster, and sometimes even toward the artists themselves.

Cast No Shadow – Ticketmaster Takes the Heat

In the Oasis ticketing debacle, Ticketmaster bore the brunt of the public's anger. The platform, owned by Live Nation, has implemented dynamic pricing to combat ticket touting and capture more revenue for artists. However, consumers feel they are being exploited. Online petitions, social media complaints, and regulatory scrutiny have put Ticketmaster in a difficult position. Its brand is suffering, with many viewing it as untrustworthy and opportunistic.

Ticketmaster claimed it was a way to reduce ticket touting and illegal reselling at premium prices where the artist does not benefit. However, it is likely that touting or reselling will not be reduced, but democratised as dynamic pricing merely confirmed the true value of tickets in the market, informing ticket holders of the opportunity cost of holding on to their tickets. Now there are many people holding onto an appreciating asset with the choice to hold on for the experience or cash in.

Stand By Me – Oasis’s Brand Remains Intact

While Ticketmaster faces intense criticism, Oasis has largely emerged unscathed. The band distanced itself from ticketing decisions, leaving pricing and distribution in the hands of promoters and Ticketmaster. As a result, fans have directed their frustration toward the ticketing platform, not the band.

Oasis has maintained the loyalty of its fanbase, as fans recognize that the pricing fiasco wasn’t the band's doing. Clear communication on the band’s part helped protect their image.

The Risk to Ticketmaster’s Brand

Dynamic pricing can feel like a lottery where only the wealthiest fans win tickets. For it to work effectively, transparency is crucial. Fans need to understand why prices are changing and how the system benefits them. Ticket platforms could implement pricing caps to prevent extreme inflation and communicate these safeguards clearly.

The major risk for Ticketmaster is a fan boycott. If fans unite against the platform, as seen in the GameStop short squeeze in 2021 where ardent fans combined their buying power to drive the stock price up, causing huge losses to a number of hedge funds that had bet against the retailer. If consumer action is mobilised like this, Artists will need to consider alternative ticketing platforms that fans are more willing to engage with causing major financial impact on Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster must tread carefully. In emotionally charged markets like live entertainment, transparency, fairness, and communication are essential for maintaining brand loyalty.

You Gotta Roll With It – Is Price Gouging Legal?

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is urgently reviewing Ticketmaster’s pricing practices, while similar investigations are underway in the EU. Irish politicians are pushing for legislation that could ban dynamic pricing for live events. The central issue in these investigations is transparency—are consumers adequately informed about potential price fluctuations? Ticketmaster’s process protects fans from mid-transaction price changes, as the law requires,  but it doesn’t inform those waiting in the queue about how much prices have risen. We wait to see the outcome of the investigation.

Are there solutions to avoid this in the future?

All We Know Is That We Don’t Know How It’s Gonna Be

Pricing consumer experiences is unpredictable, especially for “new” events with no clear benchmark. Dynamic pricing strategies for events expected to generate £400 million, like Oasis’s reunion tour, should rely on data-driven models to understand price sensitivity and avoid alienating fans. Conjoint Analysis is the leading pricing & willingness to pay methodology that can provide businesses with a crystal ball to avoid these negative headlines and ensure the optimisation of the tradeoff between profits for the platform, the artist and satisfaction for the consumers.

Live Forever – Fans Need to Take a Longer-Term View

Many iconic bands, like U2, The Eagles, and Guns N’ Roses, have reunited after long breaks, only to return stronger and with renewed energy. Similarly, Oasis has the potential to tour again. Like The Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd, bands with such devoted followings always have the potential for another tour, even if they claim it’s their last. As long as there are packed stadiums and arenas waiting for them, Oasis may continue to return and so fans need to trade off price with time, and choose to opt out of some bidding wars and wait for prices to match their budget.

Go and tell it to the man who lives in hell

Rory Sutherland’s insight into how a small change in information can dramatically improve consumer satisfaction. He explained that before digital displays were introduced to the London Underground, passengers waiting on platforms often felt frustrated, as they had no idea how long they would have to wait. This uncertainty led to anxiety and dissatisfaction.

However, once the countdown displays were introduced, even if the wait time remained the same, passengers felt much more relaxed and satisfied simply because they had information about how long they would be waiting. The key insight from this example is that providing information, and reducing uncertainty, can enhance the customer experience, even if the actual service (like wait times) hasn't objectively improved.

So visibility on the changes being experienced will help ticket buyers to decide if they should enter the market or not. This will in turn provide them with the feeling of control and certainty, which will improve satisfaction and the experience, allowing dynamic pricing to remain a viable option.

All part of the masterplan

Priceline, an online travel agency in the US, offers various services such as hotel bookings, flights, car rentals, and vacation packages. Its unique selling point is its "Name Your Own Price" feature (though this has been phased out in some markets), which allows consumers to bid on travel services.

The introduction of an equivalent in event ticketing will enable consumers to select what they are willing to pay and let the ticketing platforms decide who they want to sell to and at what price.

Some might say sunshine follows thunder

The Oasis ticketing controversy highlights the complexities of dynamic pricing, especially when consumer emotions and brand loyalty are at stake. While Ticketmaster’s reputation has taken a hit, Oasis’s brand remains intact due to clear communication. Dynamic pricing has revenue potential, but it must be handled with care. Otherwise, companies risk alienating fans and damaging their brands for years to come.