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1.) If you ask the median person, whether they'd want a scenario where every ticket was $150, or there was a chance they had to pay $190, but somebody on the same row as them got to pay $110, they'd absolutely despise it. People despise surge pricing, even if there's a somewhat better argument for it. People want stability and firm prices, not basically having to roll a dice every time they try to make any purchase.
Ironically, both libertarians and socialists at the ends of the economic chart think people should be nothing but economic input and output machines, and don't like it when human beings act differently.
2.) The difference with hotel & plane prices is the time dynamic - when two people buying a ticket on the same row, at the same time, can see a different price, that's when people get pissed, and the reason hotels and flights get away with it is twofold - there's less feelings connected to a plane flight and more importantly, there's not thousands of people trying to get the same flight at the same time.
3.) Why do artists care? Because contrary to popular contrarian opinion, not all famous people are unfeeling sociopaths hell bent on screwing over as many people as possible. But, even looking at things selfishly, artists understand that to an extent, having only an audience that can afford insane ticket prices will be a less hyped audience than people for whom this is basically the high point of their lives, as opposed to somebody more focused on being an influencer in the first row or whatever. But also though, many artists probably have memories of being unable to afford tickets to the people they liked, and want the ability for many types of their fans to able to get into a show.
4.) The combination of basically automated scalping + Ticketmaster's pointless fees + their monopoly of tickets plus stadiums is what really upsets people. If somebody waits in line for 12 hours to get the first tickets, then sells them, people may not like it, but they can respect it. They have zero respect for some dork who wrote some code so they can buy 8 zillion tickets on the first day.
I joke, but only halfway that if Biden came out tomorrow and said he was starting anti-trust action into breaking up Ticketmaster/Livenation and pushing regulatory rules to limit fees, he'd gain ten points in approval overnight. Donald Trump would beat Ticketmaster in an election in even deep blue states.
I remember the times when fan clubs would get to buy N tickets ahead of everyone else, the idea being that fans would be extremely unlikely to resell a ticket to their favorite artist's show.
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That seems like the wrong framing. Why would we assume that pricing tickets at a market clearing rate means screwing people over? Is Per Se sociopathically screwing over Joe the Plumber by charging $1000 for dinner for two? There are only so many seats and time in a day and it's impossible to satisfy unlimited wants. Further, market clearing profit made by TS doesn't go to Putin to fund his invasion; it is taxed and then most likely plowed back into the economy as investment capital, or else goes to pay her staff and indulgences.
I am skeptical of the importance of the hype element. You seem to assume people shelling out thousands for TS are 65 year old retired O&G executives. More likely is they are the teenage daughters of said executives, and I'm sure they get just as hyped, if partly because that's what other young people do at concerts.
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