It has been reported that Taylor Swift had refused to use Ticketmaster’s dynamic ticket pricing option for the ‘Eras’ tour.
The ticketing platform’s “surge pricing” scheme, introduced in 2022, increases ticket prices based on demand. Ticketmaster have clarified on their website previously that tickets that are “market-priced” and “may increase or decrease at any time, based on demand. This is similar to how airline tickets and hotel rooms are sold.”
Speaking to HITS Daily Double as part of a new interview, Jay Marciano – AEG Presents Chairman and CEO – opened up about what he learned from Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour. “There are a number of things Taylor did that other artists wouldn’t contemplate doing,” he began.
He continued: “One is, she had an opportunity to dynamically price her tickets, and she didn’t want to do that to her fans. She specifically said, ‘No dynamic pricing.’ She was willing to make decisions that potentially cut into her income because she was taking a long-term view of her career.”
Back in 2022 when Ticketmaster revealed that its website experienced “historically unprecedented demand” for tickets to the North American leg of Taylor Swift‘s 2023 ‘Eras’ tour, the ‘Bejeweled’ singer responded with a statement that read: “Well. It goes without saying that I’m extremely protective of my fans. […] It’s really difficult for me to trust an outside entity with these relationships and loyalties, and excruciating for me to just watch mistakes happen with no recourse. There are a multitude of reasons why people had such a hard time trying to get tickets and I’m trying to figure out how this situation can be improved moving forward.
“I’m not going to make excuses for anyone because we asked them, multiple times, if they could handle this kind of demand and we were assured they could. It’s truly amazing that 2.4 million people got tickets, but it really pisses me off that a lot of them feel like they went through several bear attacks to get them.”
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Earlier this summer, Oasis fans were left scrambling to get tickets for the iconic band’s huge comeback tour. During the tumultuous sale for UK and Ireland shows, some fans were disappointed to find ticket prices were impacted by the dynamic pricing policy upon accessing payment pages.
Now, a new law may be introduced in the UK that requires music and sports events to tell fans maximum prices at the beginning of a ticket-buying process. It follows Britain’s Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy condemning dynamic pricing and calling for a review of the policy.
At the time, Oasis responded with a statement which read: “Oasis leave decisions on ticketing and pricing entirely to their promoters and management, and at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used.”
The band later confirmed that a dynamic pricing structure would not be applied to their North American reunion tour dates.
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Following the UK and Ireland sale controversy, the issue was brought to the Advertising Standards Agency and the European Commission, with a separate call for an investigation brought by the UK government. Experts also suggested that not warning Oasis fans of the dynamic pricing may breach consumer law.
As for Swift, her massive ‘Eras’ Tour officially became the first tour to gross $1billion (£796million). The popstar hit the ten-digit threshold after sixty shows and eight months of being on the road.
In other news, Hugh Grant recently opened up about doing Tequila shots with Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce, during her Eras Tour show at Wembley this summer.