Oasis urged to 'cancel' gig tickets in battle against touts

An MP has urged to keep their promise to , after did not follow through with similar threats.

Artists including have received praise from anti-tout campaigners, after the singer stayed true to his pledge to cancel tickets for his shows that were sold via the secondary market, offering fans the chance to buy the ticket again at face value and get a refund from the place of purchase.

But with many artists making empty threats, which are deemed “unhelpful” to the attempts to end touting, campaigner Sharon Hodgson, MP for Washington and Gateshead South, has urged Oasis’ management to not let their own promises fail.

She explains: “I can understand Taylor Swift, as teenage kids have no credit cards or the ability to rebuy the tickets, they are dropped off by their parents. I can understand why she didn't.

“Oasis fandom is different. Your fans aren't kids. Oasis need to follow through, everybody who has bought their tickets will probably be of a certain age and will probably have the means to buy their tickets again at the box office. So please, Oasis, follow through and prove Viagogo wrong.”

She adds that Oasis “can afford” to have staff monitor the tickets appearing on resale sites, which is a substantial task but essential in order to cancel them.

The first 17 UK and Ireland dates sold out within hours, with 14 million in the queue to buy tickets. They since added two extra dates at Wembley Stadium for their first shows back together since splitting in 2009.

Ed Sheeran’s attempts to manage ticketing at his gigs were effective, and Sharon praises him as an “angel” for fans.

But she adds that artists not committing to their threat is “unhelpful”, while speaking to the at panel event hosted by Virgin Media O2, alongside Gareth Griffiths, Director, Partnerships and Sponsorship at Virgin Media O2, and Adam Webb, the Campaign Manager for FanFair Alliance.

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Gareth said Ed was a “great example” of how to make ticket selling fairer to fans, as he has done the “very time-consuming” work of making sure his tickets are repurchased at face value, and has cancelled secondary site tickets in the past.

New data has revealed that 62% of music fans purchasing tickets from a resale platform do not realise they are buying secondhand tickets. The research has found that resale platforms cost music fans £145m per year.

Gareth said at the event said that the furore over Oasis tickets being sold at thousands of pounds on Viagogo and StubHub shortly after being put on sale, has “really put the understanding of the ticket market on the map”.

The Government and the UK’s competition watchdog have pledge they would look at the use of dynamic pricing, as well as opening a consulation on ticket resales, which is currently calling for submissions.

It is hoped a cap on the price that passes can be resold at will make drastic changes, though websites such as are being urged to not let resale sites advertise.

Gareth said: “What happened straight away (during Oasis) was the secondary sites were flooded with tickets.

“They were extortionate, and the legislation we’re pushing for would cap the ability to resell it (at 10%) ... and straight away you’d stop those tickets then being listed for £5,000 (to) £6,000, because if you bought a £150 ticket, you clearly list it for £175, or whatever it is.”

Added to this he wants resellers labelled as secondary sellers on Google so fans can chose easily to go to the official sellers.

He also said: “An artist (is) having to price their own face value tickets a bit more because they’re not getting the value of all the money from the secondary side going back, not to them so it sort of snowballs it really.”

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