Originally posted by Slow Diver
Yeah, and when you suceed, you sell a lot of albums and this again means that you are selling out. And how do you judje if an artist is making a compromise with their artistic creativity, its really subjective. Can you give an example of a band that has not "sold out" and yet has sold millions of copies of their CDs? I can't...
Therefore in my opinion this dicussion is totaly useless and will lead to no conclusions, I am sure.

Are we on the same page here? You don't mean the literal meaning of the term "selling out" right? Like a "sold out" concert? Cause that's not what we're discussing.

"sell out:
3 [intransitive] (informal)
to abandon one's principles, standards, etc.
example: his best friends were accusing him of selling out"

You're right, the only people who really know if a band has compromized their artistic creativity in exchange for financial gain are probably the bandmembers and their representatives at their label.
But saying that every band that sells a lot of record is a sell out is just wrong I think.
But to each their own, it doesn't really matter, as long as you like the music, who the hell cares if a band has sold out or not?