Good Research Paper About Paying Artists Fairly Fort Their Work

It is obvious that good work deserves better payment; everybody strives to achieve something in any activity they perform. It does not matter the type of work one does to earn a living provided it does not jeopardize society’s well-being. The overall goal of working is usually to achieve certain desires, which might not be in terms of monetary payments. There have been discussions and concerns from various quarters of the society concerning paying musicians or artists fairly for their work. Many artists have launched endless complains regarding unfair manner through, which their efforts are recognized among their followers and other aspects of media (Stewart III, 38). Governments have also received tremendous complains from groups of artists and other activist groups making demands that they should be receiving better payments for their work (Stewart III, 39).
In the contemporary society, there are various digital platforms that have been created i.e. Spotify and Pandora that offers music listeners with an opportunity to access and download music from their favorite artists after making certain amount of subscription. However, a group of artists such as Jay Z, Madonna and other major artists have launched complains that the available online platforms do not pay artists in a fair manner. As such, Jay Z has launched the Tidal Digital platform that will enable artists to acquire fair payments from their work (www.latimes.com). Taking this issue into consideration, one can identify that indeed artists have been receiving payment for their work; the only issue that has arisen overtime is the issue of fair payment. There are various reasons why artists just like any other people who offer services should be paid in a fair manner for their work.

Music Requires More than Creativity to Produce and Release to the Public

A significant number of people will argue that creativity is an intangible resource that one does not have to spend any amount of financial capital to acquire or access. The main question that emerges from this type of argument is: What about engineers, designers and architects who gets paid for their creative ideas? Engineers, architectural designers and other creative thinkers have long in history been paid for their creativity and innovation. There have not been doubts or conflicts regarding whether or not this group should be paid. The process of creating music that can be appreciated by a wide perspective of listeners requires a great sense of creativity (Passman, 12). In this aspect, artists spend significant amounts of their time to create music to ensure that their target audiences are provided with what they desire. Considering this issue, artists should also receive payments worth their time and ideas just like creative designers who accrue huge financial benefits from their creative work.
Apart from creativity, the process of creating music requires the use of significant amount of resources. These resources are utilized from the onset of creativity to the final stage where the music is released to the general public (Hill & O'Sullivan, 10). For example; artists must use documentation materials to record their creativity. This is followed by making certain payments to a recording studio where the music is finally released to the general public. From this perspective, it is only fair that artists should be compensated or paid in a fair manner to ensure that their efforts to create and provide music to listeners is not regarded as a liability, but rather as an investment.

Fair Payment as an Appreciation

The role of music in the society cannot be ignored. Music has been associated with a variety of benefits for a long period of time for instance: It portrays culture and therefore it is considered a tool that facilitates cultural exchange (Marshall, 77). Additionally, music is a major source of entertainment and has been associated with promoting social cohesion as it brings societies together through cultural appreciation (Marshall, 79). Moreover, music is a form of therapy, it can be used to manage incidences of conflict through the information it disseminates within the society. Taking these roles into consideration it is only appropriate that the society plays its role by appreciating artistic work and making fair payments to their creators. On the other hand, society has long been appreciating and making fair payments to certain aspects of artistic works i.e. artistic artifacts such as drawings, paintings et cetera. The main question that arises from this aspect is; why not music? If a person can appreciate an artistic work i.e. a drawing and make a payment of approximately $50,000 for it, the why not make such payments to music. Artistic work such as paintings play similar role to music. It is therefore imperative that a fair appreciation of music is accompanied with fair payments.

Music is Business

Music may not appear to be a form of business to many people as business, but from a careful analysis, one notes that it involves the use of certain amount of resources i.e. the machinery used to record and release music to the general public involves the use of high amounts of resources (Passman, 22). Artists and producers usually expect returns from such kind of investment; in this regard, a failure to provide artists with fair payments basically means that their businesses are subjected to making greater losses. Many business entrepreneurs strive to accrue the highest amounts of profits from their investment, a similar goal is also desired by artists (Passman, 23). Therefore, the provision of fair payments to various musical works is the only way this dream or desire may be achieved.
If we do not pay artists fairly for their work, who will? This should be the question that lingers in the minds of the people who have been asking whether or not artists should be paid fairly. Failing to pay artists fairly for their work is basically an unethical act? Why should one struggle to entertain you, only to fail to appreciate his/her work? People working in other sectors of the economic are usually awarded fair payments; musicians/artists are also play significant role in economic development processes, considering the fact that the production of music is also subjected to certain aspects of business taxes just like any other business. In this regard, artists should also receive fair payment for their work; a form of payment that is worth their time and other resources.
How does one feel when he/she works so hard, but fails to get paid in a fair manner? Many people will protest in such circumstances; everybody wants fair treatment and as such, artists too. Another ethical standpoint indicating why artists should be given fair payments for their work is that the society appreciates and enjoys music. Music is has become part of many people’s life, therefore it is fair that while people appreciate and enjoy music, they should also be prepared to pay for it in a proper manner.

Conclusion

It is quite surprising how certain digital platforms ‘milk’ money from artists; how do you payment someone $0.0048 musical download? How long does one have to wait to benefit from $0.0048 of payment? From a personal perspective, the digital platform that has been launched by Jay Z and other artists will not only empower artists, but also facilitate the appreciation of their work through fair payments. However, in as much as artists should be paid fairly for their work, consumers’ capacity to afford music should not be overlooked. This could be one of the main challenges that experienced by Tidal online digital platform. The subscription rates suggested by its owners may be quite expensive to many users considering the fact that people have other socio-economic issues to deal with. Tidal digital platforms have a monthly subscription rate of $19.99 per month for high definition music and videos and a $9.99 for basic high quality music streaming. This could be quite expensive for many online users considering the fact that Spotify and other online platforms offers an average subscription rate of $4.5. Consequently, artists should also strive to provide quality music; their focus should not be only on fair payment. They should consider the content of their music and how it might impact the society. It is important to acknowledge the fact that the content of musical work that are currently produced by a significant number of artists do not portray any tangible message; this has been indicated by the high number of artists, focusing on production of music characterized by showing off their wealth, taking about sex and money. While artists strive to acquire fair payments, they should consider that musical content is of great importance in the society.

Work Cited

Hill, Elizabeth, Terry O'Sullivan, and Catherine O'Sullivan. Creative arts marketing. Routledge, 2012.
Kumar, Nithin. "Constitutional Hazard: The California Resale Royalty Act and the Futility of State-Level Implementation of Droit de Suite Legislation." Colum. JL & Arts 37 (2013): 443.
Marshall, Lee. "The 360 deal and the ‘new’music industry." European journal of cultural studies 16.1 (2013): 77-99.
Passman, Donald S. All you need to know about the music business. Simon and Schuster, 2012.
Stewart III, G. B., et al.Rethinking rewards. Harvard Business Review, 71.6 (2013): 37-49.
"Top Musicians Team with Jay Z on Tidal Music Streaming Service - LA Times." Latimes.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-jayz-tidal-music-streaming-20150401-story.html#page=1>.