A new report has found that 91% of live music fans believe that dynamic or surge pricing should be illegal in the UK. The Music Fans’ Voice survey gathered data from more than 8,000 music fans across 8 cities between February and March this year. But what does this mean for arts and culture venues and events? And how can we optimise revenue and attendance, while also managing audience concerns?
At DynamO we’ve been helping cultural organisations navigate this challenge successfully for years, so here are some of our top tips:
The results of this survey likely conflate scalping, surge pricing and demand-based pricing - three very different practices:
This conflation is understandably driven by frustration from one-off, high-demand events - like the Oasis saga - which are not representative of how responsible dynamic pricing works in audience-focused organisations with meaningful and ethical pricing strategies in place - like most theatres! The survey responses suggest a lack of understanding around what true dynamic pricing actually entails - which is designed to balance affordability and sustainability, and can often include lower prices.
So how can we get audiences on board with a practice that can ultimately be beneficial for everyone? Transparent communication and clearer segmentation is key, and can help you better appeal to both cost conscious and cost ignorant attendees. Cost sensitive audience members prefer to buy tickets for less popular timeslots if the same performance can be enjoyed at a lower cost, whereas people who care more about time constraints will pay more for higher demand performances if a certain timeslot works better for their schedule.
Some practical steps include:
Increasing revenue is needed to meet rising costs. Dynamic pricing offers an alternative to simply raising all prices and completely excluding price-conscious audiences - an increasing practice amongst a small percentage of West End venues. It enables you to make the majority of inventory affordable, and let the premium seats flex based on demand - with capped limits.
Dynamic pricing revenue could similarly be channelled toward support funds or access schemes, making it part of the solution, not the problem. For example, the top 5% of high-price tickets could fund free or discounted tickets for underrepresented audiences or grassroots venue support - redistribution, not exploitation.
One of the most encouraging findings from the report is that almost all respondents agreed that live music events are an important part of UK culture. In order to keep this culture alive, it’s important that we’re able to find financially sustainable ticketing models - particularly in the face of the sector’s “imminent burnout alongside significant skills and workforce gaps,” plus diminishing government and philanthropic funding.
Dynamic pricing isn’t a case of greed - it’s about ensuring events remain viable by implementing time and cost-saving tools, while matching value with demand. It works particularly well in venues and events with:
In music events with one-night-only performances, there’s a much greater sense of urgency. But as an industry at large, the cultural sector has the ability to take a more balanced approach - including pre-set pricing stages, transparent calendars and fair access tools.
It’s understandable that audiences might be weary when ticket prices feel unpredictable or even unfair. Your work as a venue or event isn’t just about transparency - it’s about building a sense of shared values and trust. If you’re looking to explore dynamic pricing and want to do so in a way that places your audiences at the heart, remember to:
If you’d like to have a conversation to learn more about dynamic pricing and how it could help your organisation achieve financial sustainability, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at info@dynamopricing.com.
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We’re delighted to announce our partnership with King’s Head Theatre - an iconic Off-West End theatre in Islington that celebrates the LGBTQ+ community, on and off stage.
The collaboration reflects DynamO’s commitment to developing flexible products that support a wide range of performing arts organisations, from the West End to pioneering fringe venues, with ethical, data-driven pricing solutions that increase revenue and drive audience growth.
A bold and historic venue
Founded in 1970, King’s Head Theatre has long been recognised for its trailblazing programming, championing emerging artists and staging daring new work. Now, as the theatre navigates an exciting new chapter with their new and improved space on Islington Square, DynamO is proud to play a role in helping the team build a sustainable future.
Seamless integration, flexible tools
Thanks to our existing integration with King’s Head Theatre’s ticketing system, Spektrix, onboarding the team was a seamless and efficient process. Now, their event data is pulled through automatically from Spektrix - and vice versa - meaning they can manage their dynamic pricing without having to double up on data entry. Our dashboards provide real-time insights into how each of their events is performing, empowering them to make quick, impactful decisions informed by data.
Supporting their values
King’s Head Theatre has always put accessibility at the core of its mission. With DynamO’s built-in safeguards - including lower and upper price boundaries - the theatre can stay true to its concession policies and commitment to fair pricing, while also maximising all revenue opportunities. The additional revenue generated will, in turn, help the theatre retain and build on its commitment to accessibility.
Driving sustainable growth
As the theatre world continues to navigate shifts in audience behaviour, King’s Head Theatre is taking a forward-looking approach to its commercial model. By working with DynamO, they gain the ability to proactively adapt pricing in line with real-time demand, while maintaining the transparency and audience trust that are vital to their ethos.
Impact no matter the scale
This partnership highlights how dynamic pricing can support organisations of all scales - not just large commercial venues, but also independent and boundary-pushing producing houses that are essential to nurturing new creative talent.
Interested in exploring dynamic pricing?
If you’re interested in finding out how a partnership with DynamO could help your organisation increase revenue and fill empty seats, get in touch using our contact form or email info@dynamopricing.com. We’d love to hear from you.
For DynamO’s first ever webinar, we led a panel discussion on how to balance organisational values and ticketing revenue, with thought leaders from arts and cultural organisations - including:
Leon Gray, Head of Ticketing and Audience Experience at Edinburgh International Festival
Dawn Farrow, Founder and CEO at On Sale Group
Monique Baptiste-Brown, Head of Communications and Audience Development at Brixton House
Bence Marosi, CEO at DynamO Pricing
Phoebe Cleghorn – Sales and Marketing Generalist at DynamO Pricing
As well as posting a recording of the session over on the DynamO YouTube - which you can watch free on demand - we’ve also summarised some key insights shared by our expert panellists.
“Values aren’t optional or situational.”
Bence set the tone: if organisational values only apply when convenient, they’re not values. Pricing decisions should reflect who you are - because they impact audiences, staff morale, brand trust, and long-term credibility.
Broadest possible audience - by design, not by accident.
Leon shared how Edinburgh International Festival embeds its mission directly into pricing, offering £10 affordable tickets for those who need them (self-selected) and ensuring that 50% of tickets are £30 or under - all while meeting and exceeding revenue targets and selling 88% of capacity this year.
It’s not just “cheap equals accessible.”
Monique emphasised value over price. At Brixton House, access is about audience belonging and brand clarity: creating a space and experience where local communities see themselves, not just adding a low-price category. Tickets typically centre around £22, with Pay What You Feel performances and targeted low-price allocations to bring the right audiences in at the right time.
Brand, experience, psychology.
Dawn urged a mindset shift: focus on the exchange beyond the ticket - the transformation, the feeling when audiences leave, the clarity from confirmation email to curtain up. Pricing is as much brand storytelling and customer psychology as it is maths.
Start with audience truths; let pricing follow.
Brixton House builds from socio-cultural insight: What’s the story? Who is it for? How does it connect with them? What barriers exist? Early authenticators (those who feel most represented) are more likely to become advocates, helping to build momentum and pricing power organically. From there, dynamic pricing can lift later-stage revenue while protecting pockets of accessible ticket inventory.
Plan the balance sheet to fund access.
Edinburgh International Festival partners with DynamO to push premium seats where demand supports it, and reinvests that incremental revenue into Tickets For Good, the Young Musicians Pass and an extensive set of concessions. The balance is planned upfront using previous-year data, then tuned throughout the sales cycle.
Segment everything, then be brave.
Bence advocated for deep differentiation - by seat zones, performance types (matinee vs. weekend), demand curves and audience segments. Then apply meaningfully different strategies across those segments. ‘Flat’ pricing philosophies often ignore real differences in audience needs and willingness to pay.
Challenge legacy discounts.
Dawn noted that some traditional concession rules (e.g., universal OAP discounts) can end up misaligned with current ability to pay. Re-examining who qualifies - and why - can unlock headroom for funding access where it’s most needed today.
Concrete concessions with modern reach.
Edinburgh International Festival has expanded and simplified eligibility:
Under 18s: 50% off
Under 30s & students: concession pricing
Arts workers: 30% off
Deaf, disabled & neurodivergent audiences: 50% off, plus an Access Pass that unlocks held seats (aisle, near exits/toilets) which are bookable online.
Translate the concept of access, not just the copy.
Monique flagged a frequent gap: many new or infrequent attendees don’t recognise access schemes as for them. Brixton House has been exploring multilingual captioned performances and communications to reach growing local communities, paired with held seat allocations and FOH/box office support that guides first-timers through the process.
Use premium demand to pay for equity.
Bence shared examples where clients introduced cheaper tickets than ever because premium tiers or high-demand performances were able to subsidise them. Other tactics include member presales with distinct price behaviour vs. general public.
Values and revenue are not mutually exclusive - when planned together, premium demand can fund inclusion.
Combine forward-planning and agility - decide your access commitments upfront, then finetune pricing as demand unfolds.
Access includes communication, not just price - ensure your access and inclusion efforts don’t begin and end with the price. Consider the end-to-end journey.
Audience first, always - when people see themselves in the work and the space, they become advocates - and that advocacy powers sustainable revenue.
If you’d like to learn how dynamic pricing could help your organisation balance values and revenue, get in touch using our contact form or email info@dynamopricing.com. We’d love to hear from you.
DynamO is proud to partner with TRG Arts to help cultural organisations build stronger, more sustainable futures. While DynamO provides the tools for agile, real-time pricing decisions, TRG Arts brings decades of expertise in strategy and demand management. Together, we combine long-term structure with day-to-day responsiveness, ensuring every performance works harder for both mission and revenue.
In this post, Peter Ling - Communications Executive at TRG Arts - shares practical insights into how demand management works, and how it can transform audience behaviour, ticket yield and organisational resilience.
At, we believe that an organisation’s mission and revenue are inseparable: growing one strengthens the other. To achieve that, you need more than hope that audiences will turn up. You need to actively manage and build demand.
That means using data to decide in advance how many seats to make available at each price, when to release them, and how to signal value so people feel urgency to book early. It’s about managing perception as much as product, and every campaign is a catalyst for behaviour change; when audiences believe something is in demand, they behave differently. By effectively managing this demand, our clients strengthen their earned income and attendance.
What is demand?
In TRG Arts’ work, demand is the level of audience interest in a specific performance, series, or event; and the opportunity to shape that interest. Through data, it’s seen in how quickly tickets sell, which seats go first, and how much audiences are willing to pay. But demand isn’t fixed. With the right strategy, you can influence when people buy, how much they spend, and how full it feels when sat in their seats.
Why is demand important?
Demand sits at the heart of your organisation’s success. High demand can optimise ticket yield (your average ticket price) and help you make the most of limited seating capacity. Managing demand effectively allows you to:
When your mission and revenue work together, every ticket sale fuels both your artistic and community goals.
How does ‘demand management’ work?
Demand management is the process of strategically shaping audience behaviour before and during a sales cycle.
At TRG Arts, this means using data for:
Done well, demand management gives you a strong foundation. DynamO adds valuable real-time responsiveness through its tools, allowing you to fine-tune prices as audience behaviour unfolds; combining long-term planning with in-the-moment action.
