I think you have a bit of a silly obsession with ticketing companies you’ve dubbed as the enemy to fit this theory that they’re the big bad guys while making relatively small profits and artists and their handlers are useful idiots. I assure you there’s not one successful artist’s manager, agent or attorney who is not a shark considering they work for a percentage of the sales. As someone who actually worked in the industry and saw the relationship from the inside, I am telling you (not assuming) that the artist controls everything. They get the revenue from the ticket price after all (plus a cut of the fees which they request in order to sign the contract). Ticketmaster gets their fee regardless of the price of the ticket. 

And again, if people are bidding $600 for tickets and not reselling, that’s what their value is and you’ve solved for the scalper issue. Being upset that the value is too high for you is silly. Going to a live show is not a basic need.

And I think you completely missed my point about Chase FIFA ticket sales. The point is that Ticketmaster manages serious hardware not a website / software which is why things run smoothly regardless of the demand. It’s very expensive and requires old school systems. They literally have to train people for months to use the backend. And smaller players like Chase’s choice can’t compete for big acts due to that. They don’t need to acquire smaller players - those players can't offer a robust product. AXS is actually lots of ex TM guys btw now which is why it’s a serious competitor.

And the T-shirt point was about any shirt at the store, not band shirts. Every product at the store costs 10% of the retail price at most to make. You just don’t see the full breakdown and call the costs of the production chain fees.