I expect artists would have some control over this happening. I'm not sure how much input they get with ticket sales, but if they buy into selling tickets this way, I'd consider using a term like "artist" to describe themselves is laughable. If making money and maximizing profits is all everyone cares about, performers should just call themselves entrepreneurs not artists. On the other hand, if artists let their managers only bargain for a set payday per show, and bands release all say over how tickets are sold, they may not be directly to blame, but they are abdicating responsibility they have to their fans. The more artists who do this, the less artistic the whole music industry becomes and the "artitists" themselves are partly to blame for it. Lets see if any big name artists or bands come out publicly against this like a few did when Ticketmaster took monopoly control over ticketing. Those few bands finally got quiet when it became an issue of their own profits. This issue will probably go the same way.
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