Let’s start off with the elephant in every gig goer’s room, “Dynamic ticket pricing is a strategy where ticket prices change in real-time based on demand, supply, time until the event, and other factors. Commonly used in air travel and by companies like Ticketmaster, it aims to maximize revenue by increasing prices for high-demand events while sometimes lowering them to boost sales for less popular ones” (Gov.uk).
Now we have that out the way lets discuss”, is it fair?” Did anyone even know it was a ‘thing’ until the Oasis tour went on sale, I certainly had not heard about it, maybe because as soon as tours are announced and go on sale I just register for presale and purchase as soon as I can. (Quite Note: don’t you just love how prices of tickets are not available until the day of release and release days do not coincide with people pay days ie: last day of any month?).
So, is it fair?
Tickets should be on a first come first serve basis but the way online sales work these are muddy waters, yes you can limit each purchase to a set number of tickets but between just two people on different devices, different emails and different payment details you can double that and so on, there’s money to be made by touts, scalpers. The official purpose of it, To align prices with consumer demand, optimize revenue, and, in theory, reduce the impact of third-party scalpers by having the primary seller capture the market value, in theory!
So, prices shift based on sales velocity, seat availability, time to event, competitor pricing, and external factors like weather or day of the week. What happened to the fans buy tickets, it sells out and that’s a good thing for the artist, record company and venue based on pre-set prices. This is where I get a moan when I say in the old days you used to buy tickets from shops such as HMV and walk away with a physical ticket, but the prices didn’t change and when they were gone, they were gone.
We saw recently the Foo Fighters announce three gigs in Ireland, Manchester and London, for tickets you had to go to the venue with ID, buy and collect there and then. Now obviously if a concert for an artist is announced at Wembley for instance next year you can’t have that process it clearly would not work as buying would mean travel and too much disruption to the day to day but at least those going had the tickets in their hand and paid face value. That’s what buyers want from gigs, touts have always existed and with NFT tickets. If you don’t know what this is, they are not apes or monkeys or expensive jpegs, ‘NFT tickets are digital, blockchain-based tokens that replace traditional tickets, offering enhanced security, authenticity, and, in many cases, resale control to prevent counterfeiting and fraud. Stored in digital wallets, these tickets are unique, non-copyable, and can provide added value like exclusive collectibles, digital perks, or post-event mementos.’ (overit). Each ticket is a unique asset on a blockchain, ensuring it cannot be forged or duplicated and event organizers can manage or restrict the secondary market, reducing scalping, and, in some cases, earning royalties on resales, “Royalties” should just be an admin fee, why royalties?
A simple question is where does the extra money go that’s earned off dynamic pricing? Oasis, Bruce Springsteen and Harry Styles were all in the news for it, are they wealthier just because their demand was high? Who truly benefits from the extra revenue? The fans lower down the queue who show their loyalty waiting, hoping, praying certainly don’t.
And to those selling its 2026, we broke the sound barrier in 1947, we put a man on the moon in 1969, PayPal was founded in 1998 becoming PayPal in 2001, technology moves fast, just look at Ai (which is used in dynamic ticketing) but that’s 25 years to work out how to create a fair secure online system that stops scalpers and benefits both the artist and fans who just want to make a connection once with their favourite artists.
Gig tickets are increasingly considered unfair due to high prices, dynamic pricing, and hidden fees that make live music a luxury, with many fans feeling priced out. While artists often aim to combat ticket touts by raising prices closer to market value, production costs have soared, leaving little profit margin for smaller acts. (Guardian)
Many feel that the current market,, which often includes ticket prices of £150–£300 for major acts, has moved beyond fair.(Guardian)
Many fans believe a “fair” price is under £40, yet popular acts frequently charge over £100–£200, making it inaccessible for many. (BBC)
