The central misunderstanding is that dynamic pricing is new. It isn’t. It has existed for as long as ticketing itself. Have you ever bought, or even seen advertised, a discounted ticket? That is dynamic pricing. Have you noticed that tickets cost more on certain days of the week than others? That is dynamic pricing, too.

Crucially, dynamic pricing does not only mean prices going up. In fact, most of the time it means prices going down. If it only worked in one direction, it wouldn’t be “dynamic” at all.

Dynamic pricing does not only mean prices going up. In fact, most of the time it means prices going down

Ticketing has always been about selling the right ticket, at the right price, to the right person, at the right time. We have a responsibility to generate sufficient revenue to cover costs and – where possible – create a surplus that can be reinvested in future productions. Sometimes that means securing income from seats that might otherwise go unsold; at other times it means maximising revenue where demand is strong. Both are necessary. Focusing on one without the other leads to empty seats and lost income.

In a perfect world, we would know the demand curve in advance and pricing could remain static. But as we established at the beginning, nothing is perfect and demand is influenced by countless external factors.

So rather than demonising dynamic pricing, we should recognise it for what it is: a necessary tool that, when used responsibly, helps ensure that tickets are sold efficiently and sustainably. That, surely, is an outcome we all want.