> It probably did help that his name was already a household brand in the comedy world.

This is something that the author somehow overlooks. Louis CK does not need to "sell" to you, you're basically just buying. There's a lot of sales fluff that most other websites need to go through because either the product is not unique (a lot of cheaper/better competition) or the product is not dead simple.

While the general premise is correct, it will fail to produce such drastic results for products which actually must compete in the marketplace. There is no "other" Louis CK, and I think this applies to most artists in general. These ticketmaster sweeteners/lock-ins are not needed; the venues/performers likely only use them for convenience and as a promotional and organizational turn-key solution.