Well, no:

Article: "...they told the venue they sold 150 tickets (a sell out) and only one person actually showed up who bought a ticket."

Even if they pay the band only after the show, the venue might get $16 for several hours of staffed operation.

People attending a show buy tickets, food, and drinks from the venue.

So, the band's payment is typically easily recouped because the venue expects a minimum guaranteed income (say 40% capacity, average of $6/attendee spent on incidentals).

If zero people show up, they have the expense without the income, having sacrificed the night that could have gone to a more popular band, while also paying workers and incurring utility expenses.

Aha! Yes, that would explain the unhappiness.

At one event I organized, we sold the tickets ourselves (through Eventbrite) and we kept the ticket money. The nightclub venue hire was "free", but we had to guarantee a minimum amount of drink sales for the night, I think $2000. We reached the target, but if we didn't, we were under contract to pay the remainder in a very short time frame.

Basically we got to keep door sales if we guaranteed the venue a crowd.

Eventbrite lets you set aside free tickets, eg if you have VIPs / sponsors who should get free entry, which would make it look like you've "sold" more tickets than you really have.