Introduction

Individuals in the entertainment industry, whether actors, musicians, writers, or others, are among the most exploited and manipulated of all workers. We may sometimes find it difficult to feel empathy for these individuals as they struggle against exploitation, since some of them are very highly paid already--highly paid relative to the poverty-wages most of us receive, anyway--but ultimately their struggle is our struggle. The struggle of a worker who happens to be highly paid at a given point in their career is really little different than the struggle of a worker who happens to be poorly-paid at a given point in their career or work life--both of them are exploited; both workers receive but a mere fraction of the value they create for their employers, whether the employer manufactures snow tires or produces movies, and both workers are at the mercy of the employer, and "the market" for their employment, referring not just to their level of pay, but also to whether they even have a job, at all.

(Can you say "Tom Cruise"? This obscenely-paid actor was recently fired (August 2006) by Sumner Redstone, the head of Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures. Mr. Cruise will presumably not starve, as he will probably find extremely highly-paid work with another studio, but his release from employ by Paramount illustrates the reality that even highly-paid individuals are still workers, are still members of the working class, that class of people who, in order to survive and flourish, must sell their labor to those with the financial means to buy that labor. Thus are these highly-paid workers completely dependent for their livelihood on those who would buy their work. Since lack of income leads to decline and death, if unresolved, this dependence means these actors are dependent on owners for their very lives. Regardless of the relatively high level of remuneration these individuals sometimes receive (most actors make nothing), this is still little more than a friendly form of slavery (and in the entertainment business--oftentimes not so friendly).

Television

The latest wrinkle in the exploitation of those in the entertainment industry concerns the fact that the so-called "reality" television shows, while enormously popular with viewers, are extremely cheap to produce. And like all capitalists, the capitalists controlling this industry, and those that do their bidding, are using this economic reality to their advantage, wielding it as a club over the heads of actors, actresses, writers, and others that work in the more traditional lines of television and movies, such as dramas, sitcoms, and other production vehicles, that are typically more expensive to produce. Bow to the financial constraints imposed by these penny-pinching powers-that-be, or lose your employment entirely as they shift over wholesale to the low-budget reality shows. Ouch.

Music Business

Another of the many problems experienced by various kinds of entertainers pertains to musicians and musical artists whose record label is releasing a "greatest hits" package, or re-releasing an older production. It is becoming common for record labels to produce these releases without the input or participation of the artist. Thus, the finished product may or may not meet with the approval of the artist. Record labels have always had overwhelming, and often suffocating, control of their artists, and the trend continues to worsen, today. Of course, none of this should be especially surprising--the monopolistic and comprehensive hyper-capitalism of our age leaves no industry untouched. Moreover, round after round of corporate merger in the music business means there are fewer and fewer major record labels to which musicians can appeal for contracts or support.

Not that such support means what it should, or what it used to, anyway. Unlike the kinder, gentler music business of years gone, these days, a new artist gets essentially one chance, one album, to prove that they can make money for the label. If your first release doesn't sell extremely well, there won't be a second. You are gone, period.

Conclusion

These ugly economic and artistic realities speak loudly, clearly, and directly, to why even relatively highly-paid individuals, or individuals working in creative fields often associated with personal independence, are still workers, plain and simple, and should join the effort against capitalism. Without question, they should help work toward a human-centered economic system that will allow them to practice their craft in peace, without requiring a constant fight with corporate entities of every conceivable type, including record labels, studios, production companies, management, attorneys, and a thousand-and-one other people and organizations all vying without mercy for the largest slice of the pie they can strangle out of everyone else. For artists, the conclusion of these struggles often spells lose of income, career, and everything that goes with it. Or the alternative: a life of obsequious deference in service to the economic interests of the master and the market.

The beautiful, inspiring, and workable better option:  a cooperative society.

The effects of capitalism on the entertainment industry is a key area, ripe with potential for research and activism.