[kirk1701]

If you’re unexamined enough to buy marketing hype, then you probably aren't making transcendent art. The two concepts are diametrically opposed.

This is nothing new. The wealthy have always tried to buy talent or a piece of it anyway. Consider the antique orchestral instrument market. All "great" violins are owned by third parties, rarely the musician who wields it. That market is also rife with forgery and confidence tricks.

The only problem with this I can see is the market overshadowing the art itself. We see this in oil paintings. That's a definite racket. We can definitely go and see these paintings in museums, but are we appreciating the art or admiring the assigned cash value?

So I think this thread is really the age-old war of appreciators vs. the Philistines. I've determined to be a conscientious objector in this conflict. I sleep easier.