On August 27, hell official froze over. After years of fan begging and pleading, Oasis announced their long-awaited reunion shows. By August 31, supporters eagerly lined up virtually to snag tickets on Ticketmaster.
Unfortunately, users claimed things didn’t move smoothly. When they were able to bypass the queue, folks say they were at the mercy of the platform’s dynamic pricing model, which spiked. Now, UK’s Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer have reportedly threatened to launch a formal investigation into the pricing model. According to BBC, during Starmer’s appearance on BBC Radio 5 Live, he echoed the concerns expressed by patrons.
“There are a number of things that we can and should do,” he said. “Because otherwise you get to the situation where families simply can’t go or are absolutely spending a fortune on tickets.”
Starmer went on to suggest that moving forward, the government would be further involved in the “future of the law.”
“There are a number of techniques going on here where people are buying a lot of tickets, reselling them at a huge price,” he said. “And that’s just not fair – it’s just pricing people out of the market.”
The Prime Minister isn’t the only elected officially speaking up against Ticketmaster. Yesterday (September 1), Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also expressed her disappointment over “rip-off resales.” Nandy wants to fight to guarantee that tickets are available for residents “at fair prices.”
Ticketmaster has faced legal backlash from multiple countries including the US, Canada, and Mexico.