[cyrus_]

An athlete's or musician's salary is linked to their performance on the playing field or in the market. The people writing their paychecks are not themselves musicians or athletes. Executives, on the other hand, often make huge amounts of money even if their company is tanking. The people writing their checks -- members of the board -- are themselves executives. Perhaps they are subconsciously conspiring to keep prices high for their services?

It doesn't have to be this way. Germany requires that the board includes employees. Japan has also succeeded, perhaps by applying social pressure, in keeping executive salaries reasonable in most cases.

[yummyfajitas]

CEO pay is usually linked to performance as well. Most are paid primarily in stock options or performance linked bonuses.

Unless you want to claim that Lady Gaga's performance is superior to that of Johnny Cash, I don't think you can explain the increase in musician pay by performance increases.

[cyrus_]

Its not about who is a better musician, its about who can sell more albums, concert tickets, etc. In that respect, Lady Gaga knows how to work pop culture like few others.