Ticketmaster: 5 controversies the company has been involved in as investigation launched into Oasis tickets

• Ticketmaster are set to be investigated following the controversial “dynamic pricing” model for Oasis tickets.
• The Competition and Markets Authority have confirmed that they will be looking into how the use of dynamic pricing impacted consumers.
• But it’s not the first time Ticketmaster have been investigated for some ticketing practices: here’s a look at some of their other controversies.

Almost a week removed from Oasis tickets going on sale, more talk seems to be focused on the ticketing agent, Ticketmaster, rather than the band’s reunion itself.

Earlier in the week, many took to social media to complain over ticket prices skyrocketing, in many cases while still in the virtual queue on Ticketmaster’s website. Many customers felt they were misled as the band advertised tickets for one price, while finally arriving at the front of the digital queue demonstrated a wholly different price.

Ticketmaster revealed that the fluctuation of ticket prices were a result of their dynamic pricing model; where market prices rise or fall in real time depending on the demand for tickets. Oasis has since stated they did not know about dynamic pricing and it was not their decision, leading the ire to move now to both the promoters and the company itself.

Such has been the furore that the UK government has now gotten involved, as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced Thursday that they would launch an investigation “regarding the sale of Oasis concert tickets by Ticketmaster, including how so-called ‘dynamic pricing’ may have been used.”

The investigation echoes an earlier government investigation undertaken by the US Senate in 2023, when a committee hearing took the company to task over their merger with Live Nation.

It marks another controversial moment in Ticketmaster’s history, including claims previously regarding anti-competition practices after a dispute with a world renowned rock act and of course the Swifties once again being a force for good.

What controversies has Ticketmaster previously been involved in?

Pearl Jam vs. Ticketmaster (1994)

One of the most famous cases involved the rock band Pearl Jam, which accused Ticketmaster of monopolistic practices by controlling the concert ticket market and charging excessive service fees. 

Pearl Jam attempted to organise a tour without using Ticketmaster but found it nearly impossible due to the company's dominance. The band attempted to bring attention to Ticketmaster's monopolistic practices by filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, alleging that Ticketmaster was abusing its market power by charging high service fees and effectively controlling the concert ticket market. 

However, the Department of Justice decided not to pursue the case, citing insufficient evidence to support an antitrust action. Though the distrust among some towards the ticketing company had begun.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster Merger (2010)

The merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation was highly controversial and led to antitrust scrutiny by the United States’ Department of Justice. 

Before the merger, Live Nation was the world’s largest concert promoter, responsible for organising and promoting live events, concerts, and tours. The company also managed a number of artists and operated several venues. 

The merger was announced in February 2009, with Live Nation and Ticketmaster agreeing to combine their operations to create a new entity called Live Nation Entertainment, with the deal valued at approximately $2.5 billion. The companies argued that the merger would create efficiencies, improve the customer experience, and better integrate the concert promotion and ticketing processes.

But the proposed merger immediately raised significant antitrust concerns with critics arguing that combining the largest concert promoter with the largest ticketing company would create a near-monopoly in the live entertainment industry. 

It led to a Department of Justice review which allowed the merger to proceed but imposed several conditions to circumvent any potential anti-competitive effects. 

The conditions included requiring Ticketmaster to licence its ticketing software to competitors and prohibiting retaliation against venues that chose to work with other ticketing companies.

MDL over Service Fees (2018)

A series of lawsuits were filed by many across several areas of the United States accusing Ticketmaster of misleading consumers by failing to disclose fees upfront, inflating ticket prices with additional fees, and engaging in deceptive practices. The case was consolidated into a multidistrict litigation in California, where Ticketmaster faced multiple lawsuits from consumers.

This litigation did go to court and in 2021, Ticketmaster agreed to a class-action settlement, in which they committed to paying out up to $386 million in cash, vouchers, and credits to affected customers. 

The settlement included the distribution of discount codes and free tickets to class members, although there were criticisms regarding how effective and equitable the compensation was.

Partnership with secondary sellers (2019)

Billboard published an investigative piece regarding the “practices” of Ticketmaster, with one of the more striking takeaways from the article being the somewhat admission by the company that they have, on occasion, supplied the “secondary market” (or “scalpers” in some eyes) in order to boost demand.

It would be through Live Nation, rather than Ticketmaster, where it was alleged tickets for certain shows secretly bypassed primary markets and instead placed them directly on resale sites. The company acknowledged it has "facilitated the quiet transfer of concert tickets directly into the hands of resellers through the years, though only at the request of the artists involved."

Taylor Swift vs. Ticketmaster (2022)

Perhaps as big as when Pearl Jam took on Ticketmaster in 1994, the drama surrounding tickets for Taylor Swift’s “Era’s” tour first began when on the day of the pre-sale, Ticketmaster's website experienced massive technical failures. 

Many fans reported being stuck in online queues for hours, with some never getting the chance to purchase tickets despite having presale codes.  Ticketmaster acknowledged that the system was overwhelmed by the unprecedented demand, which they claimed was partially due to a significant number of bots and unregistered users attempting to purchase tickets.

That then led to widespread complaints over the prices for the shows, which were being sold through the dynamic pricing model Oasis tickets are controversially being sold under. Then, on November 17, 2022, Ticketmaster made the unprecedented decision to cancel the general public sale of the "Eras Tour" tickets, which had been scheduled for November 18, citing "extraordinarily high demands" on their systems and a limited remaining ticket inventory as the reasons for this cancellation.

Taylor Swift issued a public statement on November 18, 2022, expressing her frustration and disappointment with Ticketmaster's handling of the situation, mentioning that she had been assured by Ticketmaster that they could handle the demand and that it was excruciating to see how many fans felt they had been wronged.

The incident renewed calls from lawmakers for antitrust investigations into Live Nation and Ticketmaster. Members of Congress, including Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Amy Klobuchar, criticised Ticketmaster's dominance in the industry and called for a closer examination of the merger between Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

Do you think that Ticketmaster should be held accountable for the pricing of certain concert tickets, or do you think that it is simply a case of supply and demand? Leave a comment down below while you’re waiting in line for Oasis tickets.