.png)
The recent announcement of the long-awaited Oasis reunion not only sparked excitement among eager fans ready to witness the band in concert, but also left many in disbelief as the ticket prices soared beyond their reach. The controversy surrounding Oasis concert tickets is largely due to dynamic pricing being used as a pricing strategy, with fans online claiming ticket prices rose from £135 to £350.
Dynamic pricing is a flexible system that firms use where prices adjust depending on levels of demand. Markets with fixed supply are typically those where dynamic pricing is implemented, such as airline seats, hotel rooms, and concert tickets as seen with the Oasis reunion. In this case, there is an almost perfectly inelastic supply, where supply does not depend on demand, meaning there are a fixed number of tickets available for sale. The underlying economic theory here is scarcity. Demand exceeds supply, and yet supply struggles to meet demand levels at an equilibrium. Hence, the pricing strategy helps to achieve a market-clearing price – a point where, theoretically, the number of buyers willing to pay at that price equals the available supply. Ticketmaster, a ticket sales company, suggests the prices are set by event organisers based on “market value”, meaning the price where buyers are willing to pay the same amount for the tickets that suppliers are willing to accept. This economic concept is said to maximise the revenue for the suppliers.
Many Oasis fans are particularly disappointed due to the difference in prices since they last saw the band in the 1990s and 2000s. In 2009, a floor standing ticket at Wembley was priced at £38.10. Today, for the 2025 reunion tour, the same ticket started at £151.25. Whilst a key driver behind this skyrocketing price is inflation, with the value of money changing over time, another factor is the growing popularity and use of dynamic pricing. The emergence of new technologies, including algorithms that adjust prices automatically, has increased the capacity of this pricing strategy over time.
Check out this video for an explanation of dynamic pricing with a different analogy – Uber prices:
The impact on consumers sees both winners and losers. Those who can afford to pay the higher prices are able to successfully attend concerts, whilst those with lower purchasing power are excluded from seeing their favourite band in concert. Jamie Moore, an avid Oasis fan, told the BBC that he has never felt “so let down” in his life. Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, has spoken of the “inflated prices excluding ordinary fans”. Furthermore, the concept of dynamic pricing has the ability to lack transparency, with many fans being unaware of the mechanism being used. The BBC claims that the Advertising Standards Authority received 450 complaints about misleading ticket advertisements.
Sellers are more likely to see the positive consequences of this pricing strategy, with dynamic pricing allowing firms to maximise their revenue. Ticket selling platforms, musical artists, and venues are all expected to benefit financially from finding the optimal point where higher prices reflect the heightened demand. However, from a business perspective, these firms face a risk of their reputation being tainted and public backlash, with negative publicity surrounding the soaring ticket prices.
Check out this video for an explanation of how dynamic pricing increases revenue:
Politicians, such as Lisa Nandy and Keir Starmer, responded to the outcry over Oasis tickets, pledging to investigate dynamic pricing within their wider project of ticket resale practices. They aim to inspect “rip-off resales” and families being “priced out of the market”. The government also has the ability to intervene to restrict dynamic pricing, however this would involve careful consideration due to impacting market outcomes and overall efficiency. Unintended consequences may occur as a result of this government response, such as shortages and longer queues for tickets.
Dynamic pricing, although typically controversial with consumers, reflects the reality of the economic principle of scarcity. It is profit-maximising firms' response to high demand, utilising basic concepts of supply and elasticity. Attempts to regulate and intervene in the pricing strategy may be popular with music fans anticipating the reunion of their favourite band, however market efficiency and suppliers’ revenue would suffer.
Comments