Speeches by Western.

“How could the sector help bring that about?”

“Just picking up on the point about the shortage of 250,000 people, I assume there is a certain age profile to certain specialisms. You made the point about colleges, Mr Berry. Other than Skills England and what the Government are doing to put more funding in, how do we get more young people who want these vocational sk…”

“So the conclusion is that your policy was misleading to the consumer?”

“The average person who would like to go to a gig is being priced out of the market, sadly, and I am sure there are many around this table. The consumer sees a price advertised to go to see whatever gig, and then find that it is not the price they are going to pay, because it has moved into a different price category. T…”

“Let us be clear here. You said that you do not operate dynamic pricing. Are those weasel words? You are suggesting that you have predetermined what the escalation in price might be in the system, as opposed to it being live and you are influencing or interfering with it on the day or at the moment of sale. You have pre…”

“Even though you are in this business, you did not recognise the word “dynamic.””

“Andrew Parsons, when we last saw you, which was about February, you were questioned about Ticketmaster’s approach to dynamic pricing. You were categoric in your statement that Ticketmaster does not use dynamic pricing, which was contradicted by a statement on your website. Can you be absolutely clear to the Committee t…”

“I understand, but will you also be giving a guarantee in terms of the number of tickets that you will sell?”

“So your guarantee to the performer is about the total revenue from tickets.”

“But you are advising them on what you think is realisable.”

“So you say, “In this category, we could sell this number of tickets at that price.””

“You said that you advise them.”

“Presumably, in your business model, you categorise the type of artists and say, “Yes, you are in that category.””

“So you run a business, but you do not know what the average price is for a particular segment.”

“I am asking about arenas and stadia. You must have the figure for that, surely.”

“You just gave me an average price for all venues. You know the price for all venues, which includes theatres and smaller venues, which I can understand.”

“What is the average price for a stadium and arena ticket?”

“I am not talking about all venues. You could have changed the mix of the venues, could you not? You could have entered into different segments. I am just talking about the comparison for a stadium or large arena.”

“If we are talking about arena and large stadium sales, what is the comparison price?”

“Are you comparing like with like?”