But why would Swift (or other artists for that matter) want to start their own ticket processing companies? They're not, they're going to want to contract that out. And if you're going to contract out the ticket processing from the get-go, they're the ones literally collecting the money from people buying tickets in the first place.

And I really don't get your example with credit card fees. You're suggesting the credit card processor not collect the fee at the point of sale and instead send all the money straight to Swift's bank account and then expect her to turn around later and cut a check? How is that more efficient than just having them collect their fee at the point of sale? It is just shuffling money and complicating it unnecessarily.

And once again, would most artists really even want to personally get involved in handling all the mechanics of who pays who when and how? I doubt it, they'll once again probably just contract that part out as well. They have a lot of work they need to do as the performer to get ready for the show. So once again it'll still just be some middleman they hire to do all this financial plumbing.

I agree, it looks like there's a certain level of monopoly with TM/LN in this space, and it sounds like artists pretty much need to take the whole package or none of if the artist wants to play at major venues. Maybe allowing these things to split up and be a bit more competitive will reduce prices, make things better for the artists, or whatever. Maybe forcing these people to separate just creates more friction and it gets harder to put on a big show or ends up more expensive overall.

In the end, these middlemen will continue to exist in some form because they do provide value, especially at the scale of putting on a show for many tens of thousands of people.