Yeah, I don't think the Bell experiment applies here. There was a lot misread into that experiment, even by the press. It was discussed at some length at the time by the various music forums I participate in.
Joshua Bell said in an NPR interview that the experiment could have been done with a local street violinist, the point being merely to see if people would stop and smell the roses when, as said above, that was not their priority, and roses were not expected to be there. Bell did it himself to get the experiment some press attention, and also, I'd guess, to eliminate any argument that the player just wasn't any good.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=9521098