Steve Schwartz wrote:

>He has written two books, one claiming that classical music will die
>because star performers make too much money....

This "star performers make too much money" theme always seems to come
from folks who are not star performers.  I consider it nothing but "sour
grapes".  There's a market, there's supply, there's demand, and there's a
final price/contract/income.  I can't think of a better way to go about
determining transactional results.

Doctors, attorneys, painters, home builders, architects, etc., all get
paid the most that the market will bear.  That goes for me too.  If someone
or some entity wants my real estate services, they must pay the maximum I
charge based on market conditions.  There's nothing unique about the world
of Art when it comes to financial matters.

I think its great that star performers make large sums of money; it's one
of the few conditions that keeps classical music on the map.

Would you really prefer and consider reasonable that a star performer take
less than he/she can get for some artistic or altruistic reason? Would you
be willing to do this? Saying yes is simple, actually doing so is something
else.

Don Satz
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