Actually the sounds produced by a guitar, fiddle, or banjo aren't music either unless the person playing knows how to play.

My problem with Kinkade is with his limited range and abilities combined with the successful zillion-dollar promotion of them on non-artistic grounds.

If he'd become popular solely through word of mouth and had been known for comments like, "I'm glad people like my paintings. I just do the best I can," I'd be more sympathetic.

But that wasn't what was happening.

Kinkade's paintings really do count as art. They're just bad (that means uninteresting) art. Like what you hear when the average twelve-year-old plays the violin and gets almost all the notes right. If you like the performance, it isn't because of the music.