I do not believe that one could technically refer to art or music as an actual language. It’s not that I think a language must be able to be written down, read, or spoken in order to be considered a language. However, language has evolved so that people have an extremely easy way to convey ideas and emotions to one another. Music is definitely capable of evoking emotion, but it cannot express a particular idea nearly as well as a verbal language can. Spoken or written words are very straightforward, and usually do not leave much room for interpretation. Saying “I am happy” basically means the speaker is happy. When it comes to music, certain tones can make one person happy, while the same exact tones can have a negative effect on someones mood.
When it comes to figuring out who the artist is when there are multiple people working on one piece of art, I think it’s really impossible to weigh them against each other. A composer’s work would be of no importance to the average person if they didn’t have someone who could play the music. A musician would be lost if he didn’t have any compositions to perform. I believe there is room for interpretation of a piece of work by anyone who works on it, but overall any musical piece is a collaborative effort. The same goes for other types of media; movies need a script, a director, actors, and stage crew in order to successfully be made. No one individual is more important than the other in giving the piece meaning- everyone involved plays a vital role.
One could express emotions through the arts without the presence of an audience. One cannot communicate a directive without an audience.