Hope for music fans could be on the horizon with a fresh proposed law after they were left fuming over Oasis tickets.
Labour MP Rupa Huq is leading the charge with the Sale of Tickets (Sporting and Cultural Events) Bill that aims to tackle ticket pricing mayhem, after the shambles where some fans coughed up an eye-watering £355 for a standard ticket - soaring from an initial £148 - for the eagerly anticipated reunion tour.
The Britpop legends Oasis were left gobsmacked by the pricing antics, admitting they had no clue dynamic pricing was in play, while Ticketmaster passed the buck saying "all ticket prices are set by the tour". Huq vented to PA news agency: "As a lifelong music fan, I, like many of the nation, was scandalised to see the recent situation where people were queuing up for the best part of a day to get Oasis tickets.
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"And the pressure is immense when you’re refreshing for six hours to find yourself then finally at the top of the queue, you feel you have to go for it, but by then the ticket is five times the price of what you thought it was when advertised."
With the UK Government and competition bods vowing to probe the dodge, fans might just get the fair deal banger they've been waiting for.
MP Ms Huq has fired a salvo at ticket merchants, insisting that gig goers need a fairer deal when it comes to snapping up tickets. The MP, who reminisced about her days watching Oasis live during the '90s, is tough-talking over the need for change: "From a consumer protection point of view, our constituents would like some certainty and so this Bill would enshrine in statute a maximum price."
She's all about making sure the punters aren't left out of pocket with comments like: "It’s a sort of sale of goods thing, that the price you can see when you start the process is the price you pay," and: "It could be a maximum because dynamic ticket pricing could go down as well as up."
Not stopping there, Ms Huq zeroed in on the current cost-of-living squeeze, adding: "There should be some certainty, some predictability, particularly as we’re in a cost-of-living crisis."
But she's not just hammering home the hard times; she's got her eye out for fair play too: "But even irrespective of that there needs to be some fairness in the process because it feels as if the consumer balance is wrong and the ticket merchants can literally double it, triple it, think of a number, infinity and beyond."
She's in the thick of crafting the text for the Bill, aiming to put an end to fans getting ripped off, while revealing: "Some of the leading pressure groups and industry bodies think it’s high time that this happened."
Moreover, she says: "This won’t outlaw dynamic pricing, it’s just introducing transparency and certainty because there is a place for the market as well."
This proposed Bill has garnered cross-party support, setting the stage for its next act in the House of Commons come December 6.
A showstopper move, however, hinges on the Gov's backing—which isn't a done deal yet, despite promises of a consultation on the secondary ticket market come autumn.
They've also recognised that dynamic pricing can have its perks, like offering cheaper tickets for early birds.
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