It's a new year, but concert ticket prices are obviously still astronomical — particularly once they get into the hands of scalpers on the secondary market. The UK government has plans to put a stop to this by, with the intention of limiting the markup of resale live event tickets by putting a cap on the price they can be sold for.
As part of Keir Starmer's election promises, the administration has now launched a public consultation to consider how much resellers can charge, ranging anywhere from the ticket's face value to up to 30 percent on top of the original price, as per the BBC. The consultation is also seeking proposals on "accountability requirements for resale platforms, updates to consumer protections and industry led actions to ensure fair and accessible resale practices."
"A well-functioning resale market can allow fans who genuinely cannot attend an event to resell their tickets to other fans without driving up costs unnecessarily or creating additional barriers to access," MPs Justin Madders and Chris Bryant wrote. "Industrial scale touting, however, is skewing the market, with none of their profits going back to the live events sector or the local economy," they added, noting that the resale market costs fans an extra £145 million ($255,458,825 CAD) annually.
Further, the UK government has issued a separate call for evidence on dynamic pricing practices — wherein ticket prices fluctuate based on demand — within the industry following last summer's Oasis reunion tour Ticketmaster fiasco. Hundreds of people complained to the Advertising Standards Authority after consumers weren't warned that ticket prices for the band's concerts in the UK and Ireland would be subject to dynamic pricing, which allegedly drove up the price of standing tickets from £150 ($264.21 CAD) to over £350 ($616.48) each.
After the fact, the Gallagher brothers said they didn't have "any awareness" that dynamic pricing was going to be used, blaming it on management and promoters. They later made sure to opt out of the model for their North American shows, as well as announcing two additional Wembley Stadium concerts with an "invitation-only ballot style strategy" and cancelling tickets sold on resale sites to make amends.