Getty Image / Vittorio Zunino Celotto
From the moment Oasis announced tickets going on sale for their reunion tour next year they also made it clear that tickets being sold on the secondary market would be voided. Flash forward to this month and Oasis is already voiding upwards of 50,000 tickets to their reunion shows that have appeared for sale on secondary market websites.
On the one hand, I’m all for the free market and think that reselling of tickets accounts for the true value of those tickets but on the other hand, screw that! Scalpers driving up prices blocks out the ‘real fans’ from getting inside the venues and we know that there are vast networks of scalpers using advanced bot systems to buy up tickets before fans have a chance to by overloading the original ticket selling websites.
I mention that because I want to be clear that I have zero problems with someone who bought a ticket with the intention of going to the show but then had to sell their tickets for unexpected reasons and they list them at fair market value. Those types of sellers are okay in my book. It’s the resellers that use bot systems to buy up all the tickets so real fans get boned and those are the people that Oasis appear to be taking a stand against.
According to CNN, the band has taken action this week:
Oasis is canceling around 50,000 tickets for its British tour dates that were resold on secondary websites like StubHub and Viagogo. The band’s tour promoters are canceling tickets resold through unofficial secondary sites to stop price gouging, a spokesperson for Live Nation and SJM, the Oasis tour promoters, told CNN. With enormous demand and limited supply, tickets were promptly re-listed on secondary sites at inflated prices.
CNN saw ticket prices as high as $7,294 for the Oasis tour on Viagogo, a secondary market for ticket sales. Reselling tickets on secondary sites broke the terms and conditions put in place for the Oasis tour, a spokesperson for Live Nation and SJM told CNN. Canceled tickets will be made available for face value on Ticketmaster, which is owned by Live Nation and considered the designated site for Oasis tickets.
Oasis is canceling around 50,000 tickets for its British tour dates that were resold on secondary websites like StubHub and Viagogo. pic.twitter.com/3pUhShNkfK
— Cheddar (@cheddar) October 30, 2024
Good. Though there is one caveat, fans can receive a full refund from the band if they feel their ticket was canceled in error.
This should have been done for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour as well. The average ticket cost to the Eras Tour in 2023 was over $1,000 and that’s 100% not what the artist was getting paid, that was all people on secondary markets driving up the prices.
As someone who sees a lot of live music, primarily Phish, I’ve had really great and horrendous experiences with the secondary market but I’ve never encountered the band itself getting involved like Oasis is doing by voiding the tickets. Frankly, every band should take note of this. The fans love it and it ensures the artists aren’t being undercut by the secondary market.