As an artist, yes, it's nice to be compensated for my work. Usually, it's just a good grade or a kind word, but if someone ever wanted to offer me money for a piece of mine, I'd be more than happy to oblige.
However, NOT ONCE HAS ANY MAJOR CORPORATION STOPPED ME, NOR HELPED ME, CREATE A SINGLE PIECE OF ART. I made a zillion forks, knives and spoons without an agent. I put chalk and ink to work without having to get approval from a finance department. Most importantly, I found creativity, ideas, and even beauty without a paycheck to make it happen.
Music is art, pure and simple, do don't try to tell me "it's not the same". It is the same. It's a form of human expression unneccessary for survival, but desired by us. They painted caves in caves with their hands. Slaves sang in the fields. Mothers sing lullabies to their children. Kids put their hands to the frosted windows to draw the snowmen they will build. You can't possibly think we need money to use our hands, voices, and brains.
When there is nothing left of the civilized world as we know it, when all the record companies have crumbled, when the only thing left is ruins and a few, if any, surviving humans, do you think the birds will cease to sing?
