Originally posted by Jeanette
....does this mean you think that someone without any talent deserves to get fame and recognition?...

No,a person without any talent doesn't deserve to get fame and recognition.
But an unhealthy load of them do end up doing just that.
And it's mostly the work of that whole promotion thing;it's effect is that the promoter's talent is of much more impact than the talent of the artist being promoted.

...Play to please yourself? Great! Play to please others...that's great too! But play to make money....and 'be somebody'...that's egotistical and greedy...

Here I tend to disagree.Maybe it's coz I've become a sellout before I even become a musician,forget about selling out.I mean,you need to have done something before changing and thus becoming a sellout,right?
Now,I play to please myself.When I play stairway to heaven,I feel good.And when my buddies are impressed,I still feel good.
Playing to "be somebody";that's a bit complicated.Because if "being somebody" means doing something that gives you a sense of achievement,fulfillment,blah blah blah,then writing good music can give you that feeling.If you do the things you do in life for the need feel a sense of "achievement",then everything you do,including making your music is all geared towards that.
Can anybody who knows what I'm trying to say say it for me in a clearer way?:)
About making money.
You can create good music that makes you some money without compromising your artistic pursuits.I wouldn't mess with the artist in me(as if there's one :))just to make a buck.But if the artist happens to come up with something that people don't mind paying a dollar or two to get,I don't mind.:D
I look at it this way.The industry is the infrastructure that enables(or should enable) artists to get their uncompromised works of art to the masses.Nobody is going to manufacture CD's for free.Or let you use their venues to have a concert for free.So money ends up exchanging hands.
But don't get me wrong(and isn't this a sign that I actually am wrong?).I agree with you almost entirely.We are going the same way,generally speaking.