The official blog of Stathis Kassios for Business, Media, Economics & Arts

Just a quick Sunday note to lay down some thoughts I had about the labor market for artists, after watching a late night show on the Swedish MTV channel, about a bunch of hip - hoppers (no problem with that, actually I am anxiously waiting for the latest Cypress Hill album to be unleashed), who were after a prize of 100.000$! Is there a labor market for artists or not? According to a quote from Robert Storr, curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art ''artists are not a labor force...an artist's success is unquantifiable''. On the contrary, some economists like Gregory Wassal and Neil Alper have argued that ''Artists are utility maximizers too who seek the highest combination of monetary and non-monetary reward for their efforts''. The latter in plain words, supports the idea that even the existing market for artists, obeys to the demand & supply laws that determine the wages (price) for artists & the quantity -the number- of art...

When somebody asks me to pick my favourite album from their discography through the 80's and 90's (still kicking in the 00's), I would rather answer a simple mathematical question instead. Yes, I admit that I am a die hard fan, even though my "Holidays in Eden" vinyl scratches sensitive strings inside me whenever the "needle" runs in circles. So what happened to this band after its commercial success in USA & their hit single "Kayleigh"? Sales went down indeed, even though they retained their popularity in South America and Europe too, but they didn't top their previous releases. Their contract with EMI (which used to handle all their marketing & promotional campaigns up to that point) expired. Something had to be done to keep the train moving. The new singer, Steve Hogarth, replaced the Scotish theatrical poet-singer Fish, splitting fans in two. Sales continued declining down to the point where their album titled marillion.com ...