
Andrew Parsons (pictured appearing before MPs) denied that prices of tickets fluctuate during the purchasing window
Photo: Parliamentlive.tv
Ticketmaster tells MPs price rises during purchase are ‘an illusion’
The Competition & Markets Authority is currently investigating Ticketmaster over its sale of Oasis tickets.
Prices of concert tickets sold by Ticketmaster do not change between the time they are added to an online basket and the point of payment, a senior leader from the organisation has told MPs.
Ticketmaster’s UK managing director and regional vice president Andrew Parsons made the claims during a grilling by MPs as part of a Business and Trade Select Committee hearing on dynamic pricing and consumer protection.
Ticketmaster had originally declined an invitation to attend the oral evidence session held yesterday (4 February), on the basis it is currently participating in an investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding the sale of Oasis concert tickets, including how dynamic pricing may have been used.
As a result, MPs did not ask Parsons specific questions about the Oasis sale.
Under questioning from committee chair Labour MP Liam Byrne, who asked why fans of artists including Harry Styles and Paul McCartney had been sharing screenshots of tickets appearing to show ticket prices increasing significantly in the minutes between when they are added into a customer’s basket to the point of payment, Parsons said categorically: “It didn’t change.”
‘There’s no technology that’s driving any price change’
“We don’t change prices in any automated or algorithmic way. Prices are set in advance with event organisers and their teams at the prices that they want them to be made available,” said Parsons.
“I think in certain instances, because some of the cheaper tickets inevitably sell most quickly, the tickets fans see as a later point will be at a higher priced price, which can give the illusion that those tickets have changed price, but they have not.
“We can be very clear that there’s no technology that’s driving any price change. And the price that you see on the Ticketmaster website is the price that the event organiser wanted that to be, including all fees, and that’s the only price that we will ever display.”
The committee repeatedly pushed the issue of fans posting screenshots that appeared to show prices at checkout being different from those initially advertised.
‘The price is held at the price selected’
Labour MP Sarah Edwards asked for clarification on queuing practises for popular events and whether ticket prices were retained within the purchase window.
“Obviously, we’ve asked many questions and spoken about dynamic pricing, which you said that you don’t do. But what I’d like to understand more is about how the queue is operated when tickets go on sale for really popular artists,” she said.
“From that point where somebody has been successful and chosen their ticket, can you talk [about] what technology is being used to assign people the opportunity to purchase?”
Parsons said that queuing systems were necessary for “a very small number” of popular events because of the anticipated level of demand and the threat of bots.
“In certain instances where there is a queue, we have what we call a lobby area, which is sort of a waiting area before you do actually enter the queue,” said Parsons.
“When you enter the queue, you are made aware of where your place in line is.
“There’s no algorithm as such. [When] you reach the end of the queue you have the opportunity to shop and be able to see the full store… the queue is there to be able to protect the access to the shop.
“And what’s happening at that point in time is that the ticket which they have been able to access that was made available to them at that price is then held for them.
“It’s for that reason that we have the 11 minutes [purchase window] because that ticket is on hold during that period of time. That ticket is actually being held at the price that they wanted during that period of time… there will be no change to it.”
Dominant market share
Parsons repeatedly insisted that Ticketmaster did not set ticket prices and that the event organiser decided them ahead of time.
“Where differing price tiers [are] made available, that’s a choice of the event organiser. Selling a small amount of tickets at a higher-priced tier seems fairly reasonable,” he said.
During the hearing, Lib Dem MP Charlie Maynard called upon the CMA to launch a new investigation into the “dominant market share” of Ticketmaster’s parent company Live Nation.
Parsons insisted that Ticketmaster and Live Nation “have clear divides between how we operate on a daily basis,” describing the UK ticketing market “as competitive as any market in the world”.
Join the Discussion
You must be logged in to post a comment.