Dynamic pricing of concert tickets

3.8.2023

Question for written answer  E-002400/2023
to the Commission
Rule 138
Lara Wolters (S&D), René Repasi (S&D)

Companies like Ticketmaster and Live Nation, which sell tickets to popular music artists’ concerts, are increasingly making use of a practice euphemistically called ‘dynamic pricing’, with which they inflate ticket prices. Prices are not published up front and increase exponentially as the demand rises. This artificial practice is often detrimental to consumers, especially young people, as it turns attending concerts into a privilege reserved only for rich fans or those willing to go to enormous lengths for their favourite artists.

• 1.Does the Commission consider that the ‘dynamic pricing’ of concert tickets is covered and/or prohibited by the current acquis on consumer protection and/or is an anticompetitive practice that is prohibited under the first paragraph of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union?
• 2.Has it been made aware of the numerous negative consequences of ‘dynamic pricing’ and, if so, is it in contact with consumer authorities, the European Consumer Centres Network and other consumer organisations in the EU Member States, as well as with ticket companies, about this practice?
• 3.Will it adopt concrete measures against this practice, for example by requiring companies to be transparent about ticket prices or by setting price ceilings for ‘dynamic pricing’?

Submitted:3.8.2023