and, speaking of clowns...

I agree wholehearted with Bob's comments about the "clowns" in the industry.BUT...

the starving artist is a long-standing cultural cliche. You often hear of killer musicians playing to a room of 20 people with no cover charge,so they put out a tip jar... whereas Lada Gaga, Alice Cooper and other musical "franchises" play to sold out stadiums and the tickets weren't cheap.

If we judge by income, a superficial look would indicate that the clowns are winning.