ABSTRACT

DURING THE COURSE of the authors’ twin careers in music and academia, we have frequently come across the notion of a debate between art and commerce. This debate interests us for many reasons, both philosophical and practical, not least because it has often appeared so demonstrably wrong: the professional artist is not, it seems to us, a contradiction in terms but rather a fact of life. And always has been. To this end we undertook an exploratory investigation into the mindsets of professional musicians, the very people who are most directly challenged by the apparent tension between art and commerce. Their evidence led us to conclude that while the dichotomy between music and marketing may be false, there remains a parallax perspective at work. Commercial and artistic views are indeed distinct but these co-exist rather than combat each other, and where the observer stands directly affects his or her sense of the relationship.