: : Yeah, nice tune. And I imagine that they will eventually retire and do the same thing as many aging rockers have done; enjoy a very nice living somewhere living off royalties (that's money to you bub)that their music has afforded them. Dittos with other entertainers whose emotion driven angst they are able to market.: Yes, and let's hear it for the ideological services rendered by our entertainers: a belief in class ascension through a lottery system---whether biological or arbitrary; hierarchy; cult of personality, deification of individualism; veneration of the social divison of labor, repudiation of the labor theory of value (though only a child would fall for that); etc., etc.
Barry, judging by your lack of appreciation and your constant belittlement of music and musicians, I can tell that you obviously do not listen to a lot of music nor have you ever worked at being a musician.
Quite simply, a world without music is a flawed world. Music is such a unique medium for us to express our emotions, it is never the same twice, and anyone who plays it will always play it differently. I have spent my time working with younger musicians, and it is one of the most rewarding things I have done. Twice a week I go to a middle school in a really disadvantaged neighborhood and I work with young musicians who can't afford to take lessons nor even afford their own instruments. I can see how deeply it the music touches them and it reminds me just how much I love music.
Barry, before you completely belittle musicians as mere 'artisans of the preindustrial age' you should explore what it is that they have devoted their lives to and why it has more value to them than a produced good or material.
: 'In a communist society there are no painters but at most people who engage in painting among other activities' (Marx and Engels).
And there are also no dictators, just people who, from time to time, tell other people what to do.
