Andrew Parsons, UK managing director at Ticketmaster, told members of the Business and Trade Select Committee that tickets are “very fairly priced”.
Parsons had initially declined to attend the committee meeting, but appeared to have a change of heart and appeared at the meeting yesterday (4 February).
At the meeting, he claimed Ticketmaster did not set ticket prices or use dynamic pricing and denied that prices fluctuated during a general sale.
He told MPs: “That is not how the Ticketmaster website operates. There [are] no technologies that are driving any price change. They are the prices [that] humans have agreed to. There’s not a computer or a bot behind it.
Parsons added: “Where differing price tiers [are] made available, that’s a choice of the event organiser. Selling a small [number] of tickets at a higher-priced tier seems fairly reasonable.”
How life insurance can benefit your health and wellbeing over the decades
Sponsored by Post Office
Liam Byrne, chair of the Business and Trade Select Committee, asked Parsons: “Is Ticketmaster ripping off fans who just want to go and see the shows they love?”
The Ticketmaster boos replied: “I think, on the whole, they are fairly priced.”
Ticketmaster hit the headlines in September 2024 after tickets for the Oasis Live ’25 tour went on general sale at the end of August.
Fans of the 90s indie band found that tickets for concerts listed at £148.50 were rebranded as ‘in demand’, with the price more than doubling by the time they reached the front of the virtual queue.
Experts said at the time that the price hikes were due to a dynamic pricing strategy that adjusts ticket prices in real time, based on demand. Both Oasis and Ticketmaster would have agreed on this strategy before the tickets went on sale. However, the members of the band blamed their management and promoters for the ticket pricing.
‘Failed to provide accountability and answers’
Rocio Concha, Which?’s director of policy and advocacy, said: “It’s disappointing that Ticketmaster failed to provide the accountability and answers music fans deserve in their evidence to MPs.
“Which? found compelling evidence that Ticketmaster’s ‘in demand’ pricing practices for Oasis tickets could have breached consumer law. Ticketmaster and Oasis should do the right thing and refund fans who may have been misled into paying over the odds for tickets.
“Meanwhile, the Government must use its call for evidence to regulate the industry properly and decide when the use of dynamic pricing is unfair and shouldn’t be allowed.”
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a probe into the sale of Oasis tickets in September.
The investigation, which is yet to be concluded, will look at whether Ticketmaster engaged in unfair commercial practices prohibited under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. It will also examine whether people were given clear and timely information to explain that the tickets could be subject to dynamic pricing.
