By John F. Sase, Ph.D.
with
Gerard J. Senick, general editor
Julie G. Sase, copyeditor
Pleasure and Pain
“Human beings are motivated solely by the desire to gain pleasure and avoid pain... Happiness is identical with pleasure, unhappiness with pain. Pleasure alone is intrinsically good (good in itself) and pain alone is intrinsically bad. We have a duty to promote the pleasure of every individual equally.”
—Jeremy Bentham (1748-1842), English Economist, Various Works as Compiled by Politics Professor (www.politicsprofessor.com)
In last month’s column, we considered the concept of Labor through the example of a professional musician. This professional sometimes performs as an employee. However, in most situations, s/he practices as an entrepreneur to some degree. We also explored the concepts of Capital and Technology as the instruments that the musician plays and the audio equipment that is used for performance support and for recording. In addition, we explained the concept of Land as the space in which one performs. For the remainder of the column, we considered the matter of musical compositions in the commercial world as a form of Intellectual Property. Based upon this concept of Property and all of the rights that it entails, we followed the track of authors William M. Landes and Richard A. Posner in their book “The Economic Structure of Intellectual Property Law” (The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2003). We concluded our piece with a discussion of the costs of production and the expression of music. In this month’s column, we will address the economics of producing performances and copies. In doing this, we will consider an example of a large concert that results in a million-dollar loss and dozens of lawsuits. Many involved experienced great pleasures while others felt great pain.
Factors in the Cost of Producing Performances and Copies
Due to several deterministic factors, there is variance in the number of performances by an artist or the number of copies of a created work that audiences consume. These factors include the following:
• The amount of enjoyment and pleasure that audiences gain from the created work
• The price of the work regarding admission to performances or the amounts that audiences spend for a printed or recorded copy
• The amount of time/money that audiences have and are willing to spend
• The existence of competitive works capable of providing a substitute that offers a comparable level of enjoyment or pleasure
• The price of such substitute works in comparison to one another, relative to the incomes of audience members
• Complementary goods, such as food and beverages, at a live performance or the hardware needed to listen to a recording
• The prices of these complements relative to the prices of the created work, a comparable substitute work, and the other complementary items that the audience desires
All of these variables are conditional upon one another. Therefore, we will consider them holistically.
Pleasure, or “It Is always by Way of Pain [that] One Arrives at Pleasure”
– The Marquis de Sade, Justine, or The Misfortunes of Virtue (J. V. Girouard, 1791)
The amount of enjoyment and pleasure that the audience derives from a created work is measurable. From a philosopher’s standpoint, we may apply the principles of Pleasure and Pain that the Marquis de Sade elucidated in his novel Justine. Alternately, we can wax nostalgic about the pleasure that we received from watching Elvis Presley, the Beatles, or the Doors for the first time on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s and 1960s while our parents may have exhibited noticeable levels of pain. Of course, for some of us, this only escalated our pleasure!
In a straightforward, pedestrian approach to the subject, we may turn to survey methods such as those of Music Research Consultants (MRC), a business group based in Los Angeles. Since 1974, MRC has conducted unique, consumer-based Record Test surveys in the cultural “melting pot” of Southern California. Their data-collection system started through multimedia, auditorium-based experiences. Conducted in weekend sessions at the Preview House in Los Angeles, these Record Tests survey 300 “wired” respondents at a time. These test subjects wear galvanic skin sensors and hold electronic rating-dials. Though their techniques have advanced over the decades, Music Research Consultants have continued to ask their respondents the same basic questions in each survey. As a result, each new session updates the database and the statistical measurements of the survey, thus producing reliable statistical “norms” for responses to each of the basic test measures.
However, in deference to the Marquis, we will rely on the cutting edge of research as to how music affects the human mind in order to create pleasure. Music Researcher Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. (www.yourbrainonmusic.com) explains the neuroscience of music in layperson terms in his book “This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession” (Plume/Penguin, 2007). A former producer/engineer in L.A. recording studios turned research scientist at McGill University in Toronto, Levitin explains how the interaction of musical form, timbre, melody, rhythm, and other elements engage our cerebellums, orbitofrontal cortexes, and other parts of the brain. These stimuli result in the pleasure and enlightenment that we gain from playing or listening to music ourselves.
Price Is Pain (or “Let Me Introduce You to My Friend, Pain”
– Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison, The Doors [Bill Graham Films, 1991])
The price that a consumer of music is willing and able to pay for a created work forms the second piece of our puzzle. This piece refers to admission to a performance or the purchase price of a recorded copy of the work. Budgetary constraint forms the first side of this two-headed coin. The second side represents the condition of desire as it relates to the pleasure revelation a la De Sade and Levitin. Let us commence with this second side in order to determine a measure of optimal—though not maximum—pleasure that is sought by a music lover.
To a point, a music aficionado generally prefers more music to less. The consumption of any amount that we consider as good for us leads to increases in pleasurable benefits as we consume more and more. As one increases his/her consumption of music, pleasure does not grow unabated. However, the pleasure enjoyed increases as we listen to more music, though it increases at a decreasing rate. Ceteris Paribus (all else held constant), the first few pieces that we hear may feel the most enjoyable in the way that a morsel of food delighted Pavlov’s dog. We continue to listen. Our overall enjoyment increases. However, the additional pieces to which we listen add smaller and smaller increments to our overall pleasure. (To inflect this outcome, musicians tend to reserve their masterpieces or hit songs for the end of the performance in order to push the pleasure of the listener upward a few notches.)
Nevertheless, we get to the point where our ears and brains grow weary after hours of listening to music, no matter how great that it may be. In the words of songwriter/singer Paul Simon, we begin to relish the “sounds of silence.” This experience marks the length of exposure at which our pleasure level reaches its maximum and at which we anticipate the fact that to hear more music would bring negative feelings upon us.
(continued)
