KISS frontman and rock legend Gene Simmons has weighed in on the dynamic pricing situation — saying “Oasis fans can f**k off if they don’t like the ticket pricing”.
The backlash from fans regarding their general ticket sale saw Oasis take action on the dynamic pricing debate by issuing price caps on extra London dates.
‘Dynamic pricing’ are the chosen buzzwords to describe raising ticket costs when demand is high.
But the peace offering announcement by the band about their added London events will be of little comfort to fans who had already purchased tickets for earlier shows.
Many were forced to pay inflated prices to reflect market demand.
The practice is legal provided that consumers are not misled about what they will pay — and it can mean tickets more than double in cost from face value for popular shows.
A large number of fans waited in the queue for hours, only to land on the purchasing page to discover tickets priced at £355 – after being advertised for £150 – due to Ticketmaster’s dynamic pricing model.
In a statement issued to PA Media, the band said: “It needs to be made clear that Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management.”
Consumer group Which? called on Oasis and Ticketmaster to ‘do the right thing’ and refund fans hit by inflated ticket prices in the general sale.
Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced it will launch an investigation into Ticketmaster over the controversial tactic.
But despite being a hot topic in the press lately, dynamic pricing is far from a new thing.
Bruce Springsteen tickets rocketed up to $4,000 when The Boss returned from a six-year hiatus for his 2023 U.S. arena tour concert.
And artists including Taylor Swift, Coldplay and Harry Styles have all had their shows affected by the practice of dynamic pricing.
Producer-songwriter Jack Antonoff who is a frequent collaborator with Taylor Swift voiced his concerns.
The Grammy-winning producer said: “Why can’t I buy a f**king ticket at the price that the artist wants it to be?”
He places the blame firmly at the feet of what he calls ‘Mega-promoters’.
Others in the industry fail to see a problem.
Simmons added that consumers have the option to not buy tickets if they think they are priced too expensively.
He offered some advice to people who have a problem with the dynamic pricing process.
Simmons simply said: “Don’t buy a ticket.”
Feature image: Will Fresch, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
