{"id":235382,"date":"2025-07-03T13:03:48","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/?p=235382"},"modified":"2025-07-03T13:03:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T12:03:59","slug":"uk-watchdog-threatens-ticketmaster-with-legal-action-over-oasis-ticket-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/uk-watchdog-threatens-ticketmaster-with-legal-action-over-oasis-ticket-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"UK competition watchdog threatens Ticketmaster with legal action over Oasis ticket sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK\u2019s competition regulator has threatened to take Ticketmaster to court over its pricing practices during the sale of more than 900,000 tickets in 2024 for the 2025 Oasis reunion.<\/p>\n

The Competition and Markets Authority <\/b>wrote a letter<\/a> on Wednesday (July 2) to the Business and Trade Select Committee<\/b>, saying it has now \u201cdischarged its obligation to consult with Ticketmaster<\/b>\u201d as \u201cno undertakings have been offered or agreed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CMA launched<\/a> an investigation in September 2024 to scrutinize \u201cwhether the sale of Oasis<\/b> tickets by Ticketmaster may have\u00a0breached<\/b>\u00a0consumer protection law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Following \u201ca thorough investigation,\u201d the regulator said it has found that Ticketmaster sold \u201cPlatinum<\/b>” tickets at nearly 2.5 times <\/b>standard prices without explaining they offered no additional benefits beyond regular seats.<\/p>\n

The regulator also determined the company failed to inform fans about two tiers of standing tickets at different prices, leaving many in lengthy online queues unaware they would face higher-than-expected costs.<\/p>\n

However, the letter said: \u201cThe CMA did not find evidence that Ticketmaster used an algorithmic pricing model\u202fto adjust ticket prices in real time according to changing conditions like high demand.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201c[G]iven that no undertakings have been offered or agreed, [the CMA] is now preparing to litigate the matter if necessary.”<\/p>\n

UK Competition and Markets Authority<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The algorithmic pricing cited by the CMA refers to Ticketmaster\u2018s<\/strong> dynamic pricing model<\/strong> that saw some tickets sold in the UK more than doubling in price, with rates surging from around \u00a3150 to \u00a3355.<\/p>\n

Due to the ticketing fiasco in the UK, Oasis decided<\/a> not to use Ticketmaster\u2018s dynamic pricing model for its North American tour dates. Oasis said in October: \u201cIt is widely accepted that dynamic pricing remains a useful tool to combat ticket touting and keep prices for a significant proportion of fans lower than the market rate and thus more affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut, when unprecedented ticket demand (where the entire tour could be sold many times over at the moment tickets go on sale) is combined with technology that cannot cope with that demand, it becomes less effective and can lead to an unacceptable experience for fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

In March, the CMA provided a progress update<\/a> on its probe. At the time, the regulator said Ticketmaster has made changes to \u201csome aspects\u201d of its ticket sales process. However, the CMA said it \u201cdoes not currently consider these changes are sufficient to address its concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cHaving carefully considered Ticketmaster\u2019s response, the CMA\u2019s view is that there is fundamental disagreement between the CMA and Ticketmaster about whether Ticketmaster\u2019s practices infringed consumer law.\u201d<\/p>\n

UK Competition and Markets Authority<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Most recently, the regulator said Ticketmaster provided its response on June 16. However, the watchdog said: \u201cHaving carefully considered Ticketmaster\u2019s response, the CMA\u2019s view is that there is fundamental disagreement between the CMA and Ticketmaster about whether Ticketmaster\u2019s practices infringed consumer law.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cTicketmaster has declined to provide undertakings in the terms sought by the CMA or indicate whether there is a form of undertakings which it would be prepared to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As a result, the CMA said it has notified Ticketmaster that it \u201chas now discharged its obligation to consult\u201d with the ticketing giant.<\/p>\n

\u201c[G]iven that no undertakings have been offered or agreed, [the CMA] is now preparing to litigate the matter if necessary,\u201d it said. However, the watchdog indicated that it would continue to engage with Ticketmaster \u201cin an effort to secure a voluntary resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n

MBW <\/i>has reached out to Ticketmaster for comment.<\/p>\n

\u2028The Oasis Live \u201925 Tour<\/strong> is set to begin on Friday, July 4, at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff, Wales.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority indicated that it would continue to engage with Ticketmaster \u201cin an effort to secure a voluntary resolution.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":210447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[130786,489,118126,1898,490,134371],"class_list":["post-235382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-dynamic-pricing","tag-live-nation","tag-live-nation-entertainment","tag-oasis","tag-ticketmaster","tag-uk-cma"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235382"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":235446,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235382\/revisions\/235446"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/210447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.musicbusinessworldwide.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}