Phil,
Sorry for coming down on you, I wasn't really meaning to target you specifically — as you said, it's a frustrating situation. I reacted poorly and I apologize.
In any event, it's definitely a free market and that's something to be celebrated, but in order for it to remain a positive thing I think that anyone who does pursue music commercially has a responsibility to cultivate a sense of value for what they do. And that can come about through standing by higher rates for their own work and/or sharing their experience with others who are just entering the fray so as to prepare them for what they're getting in to and how to avoid falling prey to it.