Hi there,
Just came across this thread and my first reaction was to just ignore it for being such a silly question in the first place.
Why? Because you cannot just isolate a small part of any society, in this case musicians, and ask if they are worth what they earn or try to place a cap on what they should earn. Why musicians? What about sports men and women, what about politicians, what about graphic designers, prostitutes, etc,etc...
You mention Madonna earning millions of dollars... good for her. At the time she was hungry, had a certain amount of talent and marketed herself well. No business can force people to part with their money, we earn it and have the freedom of where and how we spend it. I admit to having three Madonna albums so in my small way, I have contributed to her millions.
If someone is wise enough to part with $10 for one of my cd's, then they would be contributing to my millions,,ha, ha. (maybe hundreRAB - if I'm lucky).
It's all about supply and demand. If everyone thought Madonna or U2 or Kanye West were absolute crap then they would not have millions.
Personally, I make a decent living from my day job and much of my spare time is taken up either listening to, playing live or recording music like the majority of most musicians in the world. But, I don't begrudge any musician who does well and gets comfy from it.
Have a great Thursday, Gordon.