I'd be very interested in a more reputable source than "I have heard". It would make a substantial difference in the validity of the premise of the article, but I can't find anything that suggests this is actually the case other than baseless speculation on forum threads. I've read a lot of Reddit posts asserting that artists are in cahoots with Ticketmaster and not a lot of any evidence. Ticketmaster itself, as well as anything I can find written by journalists, suggests that the artist gets only the face value of the ticket and the fees are shared between Ticketmaster and the venue.