Spent quite a bit of cough-myself-awake time mulling this over .. a surprise I know since I usually just shoot from the hip .. but hadn't really thought about this before.

As so often happens, I have mixed feelings.  Someone once asked me if it was hard being a capitalist hippie - oh hell yeah. 

A _ I definitely don't begrudge musicians good, relatively easy, income. And certainly don't fault them for grabbing a brass ring when it happens by. 

But . . (seems there's usually a gray area "but" in my thinking - sometimes envy the black-or-white folks)

B _ I have issues with companies that spend large sums of money on bs "conferences" and the accompanying entertainment while shedding a significant number of employee jobs (and in some cases also royally screwing over their customers &amp; J.Q.Public).  

Without beating the topic to death ... I ended up here - it's a matter of scale.  
If a company is taking care of it's employees and playing fair with it's customers, a moderate company treat is a win for all concerned.  Moderate being a key word. 
If we're talking about companies spending 100s of thousands of $$ to 1+mil on a show so some ego-driven CEO can rub elbows and have bragging rights . . sorry but that crosses the line into obscene for me.  
Even more so in the current economy when organizations who assist with food, fuel, etc. are in such dire need of funds.

[/soapbox]