Well, I’m sorry, but I am objectively correct. Something is worth what people are willing to pay for it.
If you’re asking what Lady Gaga is worth in terms of morals, or her character, or how much you want to have lunch with her, that’s your opinion. If you’re asking what her time as a performer is WORTH in MONEY, it’s worth whatever someone will pay her. There is no other meaningful measure of her economic worth as a performer, and you will not be able to create one without committing some sort of brutally obvious argumentative fallacy.
That’s the money she’s contracted to receive. It will be distributed amongst her team, her crew, and her band. It’s not how much she’s worth, she didn’t work any harder than another musician, she’s not better or more talented than a million others - it’s just how much they’re giving her this time.
You do realize you are both using different and equally valid definitions of “worth”, right? Your definition is subjective and based on merit, RickJay’s is objective and just equating economic value.
In your opinion she may not be worth( merit )that amount of money, but objectively she is probably worth( in economic terms )what she is being paid.
How hard she works has nothing to do with the value of her time. An article of clothing does not “work” at all, but is worth something. A lesser known musician may work very hard, but they do not generate thousands of ticket sales a night.
Whether or not she has to pay other people out of her pay also has nothing to do with the value of her time. The people paying her don’t care what she pays her agent or her hairstylist. If they contribute to the value of her time, well, maybe that’s why she gets a million bucks a show.
Her time is worth what other people will pay her for it. Do you know how I know that? Because that’s how economic “worth” is defined.
Body makeup and boots for all those mostly naked dancers (remember the old fashioned tux-and-top-hat dancing boys in the Mitzi Gaynor days) have to be factored in, not to mention the enormous coke expense for all those dozens of performers, lol.
Sure, we can get into the finer points of this sort of business decision. It is possible the folks who have hired Lady Gaga have made a business error, or could have hired a more profitable musician. Maybe Beyonce would have cost $2 million a show and earned them $5 million.
My guess is though that if Gaga doesn’t get the big bux from this venue, she’ll get it elsewhere; I doubt this fee was just dreamt up out of this air.
It would be interesting to calculate “marginal Gaga” for a number of artists. That is to say, to what degree a venue would be more or less profitable by replacing an act with Lady Gaga.
But yeah, I have no doubt they are making a ton of money.
This I definitely accept. Just don’t equate the money she’s being paid as her “worth”.
I guess I’m being unreasonably picky about semantics, but I worry that we treat celebrities differently because of how much money they get paid, instead of what they actually do and who they are.
I think the semantics of “worth” are exactly what you’re reacting to. And, yes, there is just a crazy amount of money being generated in entertainment and sports today.
Is Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers “worth” the $20 million or so that the Packers paid him last year? From the standpoint of how much money the Packers make because they’re in the business of putting on football games, and that leads to a very large amount of income (they had revenue of $441 million, and net income of $73 million, last year), then their players, particularly their most important player, should benefit from helping to create that income.
But if someone else says that what she actually does is worth the amount she gets paid, and you reply that no, that’s not so — well, what’s a guy like me to do?
If the other guy is right, then I figure I know what that means: she’s supposed to get paid that money, which is why the people who rightfully own it are willingly handing it to her. But if you’re right, then: who’s supposed to get that money?
My point is we measure people’s worth by how much money they have, and we need to stop. Lady Gaga is not worth $1 million per show, she’s just getting paid that much. Does she deserve it? Arguably yes. Did she earn it? Arguably not. Is she worth that much? No.