Society is really screwed up now.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Originally Posted by Perndog

I like that statement. I would add, why don't people bitch more about the salaries of professional athletes while they're talking about greed? All they do is play games to entertain people; at least musicians create and/or deliver art. I find it difficult to tear down any skilled musician or songwriter for wanting money in the light of a basketball player who makes twenty times as much as the musician.

Two very different animals.

Professional athletes do demand high salaries often out of greed, but they also demand it out of stature. Kenyon Martin didn't just demand a trade from the NJ Nets recently because the money they offered was cheap, it was still a multi-million dollar contract. He demanded more because he felt he has a certain stature amongst power forwards in the NBA, and that stature could be harmed were he to get "short changed" by the Nets.

And unlike musicians on big labels, Kenyon Martin has a negotiator, a professional, who deals with the company like a labor rep. deals with the owners. That guy's job is to get Kenyon Martin the sweetest deal possible. Bands rarely have this, in fact, if you ever read any Steve Albini, the record labels SEND people to bands to pretend they are just this, a rep. on the band's behalf. This isn't the case...

And as for Kahl's argument of "why should artists/musicians need to hold down jobs on the side?", uhhh, news flash, most already DO. When a band signs to a big label, they get fronted a ton of cash on credit. This money needs to not only cover luxury expenses, but it likewise must cover touring expenses, equipment expenses, etc.

Often the case is, bands over-spend, primarily b/c they didn't read the proverbial "fine print," and the band ends up in debt to the label. They thus become beholden to the label, and must produce FOR the label. As the NY Times article above pointed out, most bands RARELY see much in royalties, and I'm willing to bet most bands or artists on big labels STILL hold down p/t jobs, and this pre-dates file sharing on the internet. So please, spare me the starving artist crap....

In addition, I think musicians deserve the money they get because they do something that *not everyone is capable of*. Anyone can go to yuppie school and get an MBA and become a redundant manager at some corporation and be respected for it, but not everyone can write and/or perform, market and promote, and tour like musicians can, and for their talents, skills, and effort, it is only right that they receive suitable compensation. They earned the right to be greedy.

What big band that you know of does their own marketing and promotion?? That aside, the smaller bands, on smaller labels, who just MIGHT do all that stuff, make little money for it, and STILL hold p/t jobs.....!