It was a hit with their fans, but the problem is that only so many acts have the ability to do so (and as you say - it's actually not in their best fiscal interest, so you're going to self-select even further).
Ticketmaster willingly plays the bad guy role, and makes a fuck ton of money in the process.
That said, the vertical integration it has with Live Nation should be considered a monopoly, and trust-busted as such.
But to build / buy thousands with a real estate value in the 100s of billions you would need something like a EFT.
That's a 70,000-seat stadium [1][2]. Arenas (5 to 20k) can be built for a few hundred million [3].
Unfortunately, that would mean either nosebleed ticket prices or rationing tickets to fans. The former would earn the fans' ire. The latter reduce the artist's revenue.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoFi_Stadium
[2] https://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/5174...
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/18/business/concert-halls-li...
Ticketmaster: oh the tragedy, our shareholders..they might not get as much profit! housing! think of the homeless! if you build this arena, it will sit dormant 95% of the year, this space could be used to house homeless, so VOTE NO! on question 45 to protect $CITY's homeless!
ABBA actually built their own venue for their ongoing "ABBA Voyage" shows in London[1]. That's a residency, though. I'm not sure about the viability of doing it for a world tour!
