On Friday we hosted something truly remarkable: A once-in-a-lifetime performance by @thecure 🌹 #TheCure #TroxyLondon #London #SongsOfALostWorld

Radiohead - Street Spirit ( Live Yokohama 1998 )

The government has now promised to look into dynamic ticket pricing. It will be included in the already scheduled review of the secondary gig sales market. Dynamic ticket pricing isn’t illegal, so I think the question will be, is it fair? I’m not a legal expert and this isn’t legal advice, but I’ve done some very basic research to promote discussion. From a legal perspective, a fan might have an argument that consumer laws were broken if the pricing practices were not transparent or if the advertised price was misleading. Misleading Advertising: If the tickets were advertised at £150 but the price increased to £300 at checkout without clear explanation, this could be considered misleading. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 prohibits misleading actions and omissions. I’m sure all the agencies have the right wording in place to cover this point (even if it’s in size 2 font somewhere!). Transparency: The Consumer Rights Act 2015 and upcoming Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act require businesses to display the total price, including any additional fees, upfront. If the final price was not clearly disclosed before the purchase, this could be a breach of these regulations. Now, if argued, this is where the experts would need to decide whether “up front” means when advertised, or at the check out. I’d imagine all of the big ticket agencies have this covered. They’d have legal teams reviewing every aspect of what they do. Pressure to Buy: This is the one I find really interesting. I’ve seen a few stories of fans having a budget in mind, then selecting those tickets, and then being presented with a much higher price. They have then felt pressured to buy the ticket they’d queued for hours for, and gone into debt (used a credit card) to buy the ticket. If a fan felt pressured to buy tickets at a higher price due to their loyalty or fear of missing out, this could be seen as an unfair practice. While dynamic pricing itself is not illegal, the way it is implemented must comply with consumer protection laws. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is apparently the place to seek advice from.