Public patronage and music : an economist's view

Musical activity as measured by the number of live performances over the last 20 years, has grown steadily, but the index in costs of performance has been rising at a faster rate than the index of @. The likely explanation seems to be that the public's demand for music is being increasingly satisfied by the mass media of radio and television and the availability of an enormous range of recorded music at low prices now that public awareness of the difficulties of live performance is reflected in central and local government subsidies to the arts, it seems useful to investigate what precisely is the rationale for both the amount and the forms of support offered and their geographical distribution. While the article concentrates on music, most of the arguments applies also to other performing arts