It’s worse than that.

The venue contracts with Ticketmaster to hike all the fees and shit, which then get kicked back in some percentage to the venue (and sometimes the band) and Ticketmaster takes the heat.

So the 50% that goes to “Ticketmaster” may be 80% to the venue.

It's also a weird kind of monopoly, in that the good itself has no meaningful elasticity.

When people talk about ticket prices, I always tell them: "Come hear my band for 15 bucks at the door, and free street parking." But of course I know that it's not a comparable experience.

And even more clever: they leverage their control of the big acts and venues to force everyone else into line.

So even a mid sized venue can’t cross them because they can retaliate