Musician says industry risks 'pricing out' punters

Matt Cominotto, the singer in The Mercians, an indie band from Leicester, said dynamic pricing risked "pricing the average person out"

A musician has warned that dynamic pricing risks "pricing the average person out" of going to see live music.

Matt Cominotto, the singer of Leicester-based indie band The Mercians, called for measures to be put in place to ensure people earning a normal wage can attend concerts.

Dynamic pricing involves a charge varying according to market demand, rather than having a fixed cost.

This comes as the band announced about 25% of tickets for three upcoming shows would be priced at £3.99 to enable those who could not afford full-price tickets to attend.

Mr Cominotto said arts and music were the first things people had to sacrifice if money was tight.

"If you've not got money, the last thing you're going to be able to do is buy tickets and go out for a night when you have to feed your family.

"So, to be able to help people that are struggling get out and not just live at home and survive, that means the world to us because without music the world's a much sadder place," he said.

Mr Cominotto said he hoped other artists would follow their initiative at offering discounted tickets

For three homecoming shows in Leicester in January 2026, the band has offered "low income" tickets, which went on sale at the same time as their standard price tickets.

"You do worry that people are going to snap them up because they're cheap, no matter what.

"But, they didn't even sell out straight away, which means we've got fans that are leaving it for people who genuinely need them," he added.

In 2024 a row erupted over dynamic pricing after many Oasis fans were asked to pay as much as £350 per ticket to watch the Manchester band's reunion tour, about £200 more than had been advertised, due to demand.

The band later said "at no time had any awareness that dynamic pricing was going to be used" in the sale of tickets for the initial tour dates.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation in September 2024 into whether Ticketmaster breached consumer protection law with the sale of Oasis tickets, which is still ongoing.

At the time the investigation was launched, a Ticketmaster spokesperson said the organisation was "committed to cooperating" with the CMA.

Mr Cominotto said dynamic pricing was "probably always going to be a thing", but said there was a danger it would take live music away from "60 to 80% of the country".

"I don't think we're going to be able to fully eradicate it, but there's got to be some kind of measure put in place where there are enough tickets for a good amount of normal-earning families," he said.

"If we start going down this way, no-one is going to be able to afford to see music any more.

"And in 20 years, I don't even know if we'll have a music industry any more."

He added he understood from a band's perspective that "you don't always get a say", but said big-name artists should try to "put their foot down".

The band has offered "low income" tickets for three homecoming shows

Mr Cominotto said he hoped other artists would follow and put in place similar schemes offering discounted tickets.

"I think it's really important that the big names in the industry, the big players, these stadium artists, get behind the cause," he added.

The artist praised Sam Fender for donating £1 from every ticket sold in his arena tour at the end of 2024 to the Music Venue Trust - a charity which said it distributed more than £100,000 to 38 grassroots venues.

Adam Webb, campaign manager for FanFair Alliance, a group that was set up against ticket touts, said the current economic climate made it a "really tough time" for fans and audiences.

He added: "A number of artists, including Sleaford Mods, Lambrini Girls and Coldplay, have embraced the idea of reduced priced tickets for people on low incomes - and it's great to see an upcoming band like The Mercians thinking about their fans in this way."

Mr Cominotto said bands were "really struggling to afford everything" at the moment and said the industry needed to work together to make sure it was thriving in a few years.

"Without the fans, there is no band," he added.