who pays the piper calls the tune
hoo PAYZ the PY-per KAWLZ the TOON
huː peɪz ðə ˈpaɪpər kɔːlz ðə tjuːnListen
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Dictionary meaning
a proverb asserting that the person who provides financial support or payment for a service, activity, or relationship is entitled to determine its character and direction; the metaphor derives from the practice of hiring a musician — a piper — for entertainment, where the paying customer's preferences determine what music is played; in political economy the proverb describes the power dynamics of financial dependence, whether between states and international creditors, organisations and their funders, politicians and their campaign donors, or individuals and their employers; it serves as a warning about the constraints on autonomy that accompany financial dependence and as an explanation for apparent contradictions between stated missions and actual behaviour when the interests of funders and beneficiaries diverge
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