Re: OT: compensation (WAS Re: Looping venue help)

["Warren Sirota" <wsirota@wsdesigns.com>]

Nice discussion. I always wonder about models of musical support. When
I was in grad school, slightly before Reagan undertook the systematic
gutting of the NEA (National Endowment for the Arts, for those of you
differently-countried), there was a lot of buzz about who was getting
the grants. I'll bet there still is, to whatever extent the grants
exist. But, you know, it always seemed to me that the grants were kind
of a clubby thing that favored the "established avant-garde"; i.e.,
proven commodities or known quantities - and weren't that dedicated to
growing new things. 

Even then, I looked with envy at certain other countries and their
support of the arts, at the same time knowing inside that I probably
wouldn't be getting grants there either, for reasons mostly about
myself, for better or worse (probably for worse, I imagine). 

It's so obvious that being a true musical master is a full-time
job, and if you can't manage that or close to that, it takes a
*prodigious* amt of natural talent to even sort of keep up. But there
are also many ways of making a living with music that clearly are not
about, and maybe are antithetical to, the art and joy of what
music-making should be. I wouldn't judge for myself about that, but
it's clear from the way some pros treat their jobs that it's not always
joyful. 

So, I know this is rambling, but in the end: if you're an outsider,
the dismantling of any structures (the record industry, the grant
industry) benefits you slightly (by leveling the playing field) more
than it hurts you (because you have nothing to lose). If you're an
insider, you have a great deal to lose. 

Concentrations of power and money allow large-scale efforts that
are often tragic wastes but are sometimes monumental achievements. I
don't think my buddies and I, even if significantly more gifted than we
are, could have produced "Aja" or "Wish You Were Here" or "Electric
Ladyland" (sorry for the narrow frame of reference, I'm just picking
some obvious examples that are probably in everyone's experience) in
our living rooms on the weekends and after work.  I'm not saying
nothing of value can be produced cheaply; only that there are some
things of value that are intrinsically expensive in various forms. It's
nice that these things can get made sometimes, even if part of the cost
is a deluge of other expensive garbage.

I'm sorry, what was the question? Talking about money and music together just always does this to me...