There are always ways of influencing the market. Taxes, subsidies, regulations, advertising. It requires imagination, but let's not feel ourselves enslaved completely to the invisible hand of the new leviathan.
Back in the day, before the web, anyone who wanted a ticket at face value could get one. You just had to wait in line. For a long time. And back then, people said that system was unfair, because wealthy people could afford to take the day off of work, while poor people couldn't. Or wealthy people could simply pay other people to wait in line for them. And the wealthy people realized, hey, the limit is 8 tickets but I'm going with just a group of 4... I can buy all 8 and sell 4 to people at the end of the line for a profit. And they did! And so waiting in line became fruitless, unless you were really, really, really early, because all the wealthy people (scalpers) would buy the max number of tickets and the show would sell out fast. Now we have the internet and nobody has to wait on a line, everyone can log in at the exact moment, but people once again say this is unfair.
The idea that you can somehow ignore, heavily influence, or override the free market in concert tickets is nonsensical.
If we actually were letting tickets be un-influenced, they would be sold via some kind of auction or like an IPO.
The point is not that you can't influence the market, it's that the market is simply a natural phenomenon that will strongly resist every attempt at diminishing it with counter-effects that may be unpopular, unwanted, unfair and unintended.
Considering how often it's discussed on HN what the unintended effects are of regulations on healthcare, education, and environment.
I would wager more than 5% of posts that got more than 100 comments in the last 5 years have discussions about that topic.
Occasionally you see "crate of beer 1000DKK comes with free Taylor Swift ticket" but it's rare.
This is the foundation of the entire of retail and investment. Why should it be banned?
