This New Law Aims To Make Gig Ticket Buying More Transparent
Image: Kevin Cummins
This New Law Aims To Make Gig Ticket Buying More Transparent
Text: Izzy Copestake
The proposed legislation won’t ban dynamic pricing altogether, but it is a step towards more transparency.
Soon in Ireland, concert promoters will have to disclose to customers exactly how many tickets are available at specific price points to those waiting in an online queue. This is part of the Digital Fairness Act, which will be launched in Ireland during the Irish Presidency of the EU Council in November, which will impact gig tickets alongside plane and hotel fares.
This law is centred around transparency for the consumer. Many of these issues were brought to light during the ticket sales for Oasis’s reunion tour, in which some customers waited in an online queue for hours only to discover that the price of the tickets were hundreds, and in some cases, tens of hundreds more than they expected. The competition watchdog in Ireland is currently also carrying out an investigation into Ticketmaster’s sale of Oasis concert tickets.
Speaking to The Journal in Cork on Friday, The EU Commissioner Michael McGrath said to The Journal,
“What I would like to see is that as you are in a queue [online], that you are being given accurate, up-to-date information about what the price is of the tickets that you are currently queuing for, so that you can make a decision.
“Because we all know of situations where people have spent a half a day queuing for tickets, and then eventually they’re offered a ticket, but it could be at a multiple of the price that they originally intended to buy and they’re forced into a situation of making a difficult decision, having invested so much time.”
The proposed legislation won’t ban dynamic pricing altogether, but it will mean fans have a much clearer idea of what they’re actually waiting for before they reach the front of the queue. The Digital Fairness Act is expected to be proposed later this year, with any new rules likely to come into effect across the EU over the next couple of years if approved.
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