[meatmanek]

My (probably mis-)understanding of StubHub/Ticketmaster is that they're serving as sin eaters / reputation shields for the artists:

Phase 1:

   - Artist lists tickets as "$20"
   - SH/TM charges $20 + $15 convenience fee
   - SH/TM pays the artist $30 and keeps $5
   - Artist gets to look like they're kind/generous for pricing so affordably while making some of SH/TM's cut

Phase 2:

   - SH/TM hold back some percentage of tickets (possibly most or all of them) to sell on the "resale" market
   - Those "resale" tickets sell near the market-clearing price, either earning higher margins than if they had sold at list price, or ensuring that most of the seats in the venue are filled.
   - SH/TM kick back some percentage of revenue from resale tickets to the artist.