Posted by Gus Pratt on May 05, 2003 at 14:53:34:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Saving Orchestras posted by Larry Zaidan on May 05, 2003 at 11:59:33:
I don't believe that there is a difference between professional sports salaries and professional musicians salaries. Professional musicians that are publicly accepted do make millions of dollars, i.e. rock musicians. Just because classical orchestral musicians don't make what professional baseball players do doesn't mean that professional musicians make less then professional sports. I believe you are comparing apples and oranges. Top Rock and Country musicians make the same as top baseball players. Top classical musicians make the same as top WNBA and soccer players. When professional orchestras start selling out 40,000 seat auditoriums and perform 162 concerts a year, then they can start asking for the same type of money pro baseball players get. The money issue is directly related to the popularity issue. All economics is based on the law of supply and demand, whether we like it or not. If orchestras don't have the crowd draw as pro baseball then it shouldn't expect the pay level. They should expect the pay level or pro weightlifters, soccer players, WNBA athletes, volleyball players, surfers and such.