Dynamic Pricing - What’s all the fuss about?

By Alex Walden

Following the rise and notoriety of the Oasis reunion tour, Alex Walden finds out what all the drama regarding dynamic pricing is really about.

Whether you love or hate them, you can’t deny that the Oasis reunion tour announcement is the biggest thing to happen to the UK music scene in recent history. Despite this monumental announcement, the topic of discussion was promptly switched from excitement to outrage soon after tickets went on sale. No longer were people talking about how exciting it would be to see one of the biggest British bands of all time reunited. Instead, all everyone could talk about was how they were forced to cough up to £350 per ticket, around £200 more than originally advertised. Since then, the latest buzzword “dynamic pricing” has been heard everywhere. However, it wasn’t until industry legends like Coldplay and Iron Maiden began to speak out against this pricing strategy that the discussion really took off.

But what is dynamic pricing, and better yet, what is all the fuss about?

What Is Dynamic Pricing?

Bear with me here, as while all the anger is focused on dynamic pricing, it is not the sole reason everyone is angry. Despite all the focus on concert ticket pricing, dynamic pricing isn’t specific to concerts. It refers to a fluctuation in price caused by supply and demand. For example, although it was only worth around £2, when the drink Prime was impossible to get hold of in the UK, the Wakefield store Wakey Wines began to charge up to £100 per can. When you apply this business model to the live music industry, replacing bottled drinks with concert tickets that sell out in a matter of seconds, it’s easy to see why fans are annoyed. We live in the age of ‘scalping’, where people can purchase bots that instantly buy as many tickets as they can the second they go on sale. However, scalpers are not the only cog in the tiny machine that’s making us cough up hundreds, or in some cases thousands, for a ticket.

The Real Issue

When dynamic pricing is mentioned, one company immediately comes to mind for anyone who’s done their homework - Ticketmaster. Have you ever wondered why that is? After all, there are countless ticket sale companies, but Ticketmaster always gets their name thrown around.

Ever since they decided to charge fans instead of venues to buy tickets, implementing the infamous “service fee” (yes you read that right, we are now paying a fee to be able to pay a fee) Ticketmaster surged in popularity with venues. The company became so popular that between 1985 and 1991 Ticketmaster acquired 7 competing ticketing agencies. They then merged with the concert promotion and artist management company Live Nation. As a result, now when any event is sold through Live Nation, tickets are resold on Ticketmaster. They have control over both primary and secondary markets for ticket sales. The best example of this recently is when Taylor Swift announced her The Era’s Tour. The US shows were 87% more expensive than European shows. Yes, you read that right.

Thanks to scalpers and handling fees, dates of The Era’s Tour had ticket prices inflated to over $2,500 for her Miami show, whereas prices for the same show in Sweden cost around $340. So dynamic pricing isn’t the sole reason you’re mad, the real issue is corporate greed.

Looking back on major items that were originally scalped, I can’t help but think that it is possible to prevent this. For example, Nike SB Dunks have a one-per-customer policy in most skate shops. Previously, there have been cases when a highly anticipated model was announced and skate shops made rules so that you could only buy a pair if you could ride a skateboard out of the shop or land a kickflip within 3 tries. Another example is the Sony PlayStation 5. When people began reselling PS5s for literal thousands, Sony took action in the build-up to its 30th-anniversary edition. They announced that only customers with at least 30 hours of playtime acquired on their PlayStation Network account could register to purchase a console.

“But Alex, Ticketmaster is just one company, why can’t venues just not work with Live Nation?” I hear you say. Well, due to Ticketmaster and Live Nation’s, monumental market share in the live music business, it's pretty tough. If you’re a venue owner, deciding not to work with these companies is practically a suicide wish for your business. You’ll essentially be blacklisted from the ever-growing list of Live Nation artists if you don’t want to work with Ticketmaster.

“The Times They Are A-Changin’”

Many groups have taken to the internet to drum up noise in hopes of spreading awareness about dynamic pricing. Others have started petitions, making their voices heard about public disdain towards the unfair monopoly that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have. But it gets better. Surprisingly it’s the U.S. Department of Justice that we have to thank, as they are currently in the midst of a legal battle with Ticketmaster for “monopolising markets across the live concert industry”. If things are so bad that the U.S. government is stepping in, maybe things are on the rise.

Despite the monopoly of Ticketmaster and Live Nation, several ticket companies are on the rise and they won’t charge you an arm and leg because you want to enjoy yourself from time to time. Companies such as SeeTickets, Eventbrite and Dice are on the up, particularly with smaller bands, some of which don’t even charge you a “handling fee” (which makes sense considering you buy the ticket online so nothing is actually handled).

Now I’m not saying boycott Ticketmaster. After all, if your absolute favourite artist in the entire world is touring and the only place to get a ticket is Ticketmaster, then 100% get a ticket. I’d hate for you to miss out on a possibly life-changing experience because you were trying to “stick it to the man”. All I ask is that next time you’re complaining about high ticket prices, consider where that high price has come from.