Pay to Play

I've been surfing the net of late searching for opportunities to show my art. It's amazing to me how many places, be they galleries or whatnot, want to charge the artist for showing their work. Is this common? Am I naive? Can someone tell me what's going on?
Okay, maybe I am naive but I am of the opinion that they should not charge a fee for hanging a show. The phrase "starving artist" didn't come about by accident. While I am not starving by any stretch of the imagination, I don't have $300 to pay to a gallery just to show my work for a week. (That's just one option I've seen) Artists don't make much money in the first place and what money they do have goes into supplies so they can make the art. We also have to prepare the art for hanging and, sometimes, we have to pay for the promotional material for the show. So, to have to pay to actually hang the art on the wall...I think that's ludicrous. I'm sort of going by the model I've learned from the publishing business. I've been taught that if someone wants to publish your work but they are asking you for money, walk on. The money should flow from the publisher to the author. The same goes for art. The money should flow toward the artist w/ your typical commissions taken out. Heck, I don't have a problem with commission. I have to get my art out there and if it sells and I get 50, 60, 70% of the sale, that's more than I would have gotten if my stuff was sitting on the floor in my studio.
If you have any insight into this, let me know. I really want to hear what you have to say. For right now, I'm only going to enter situations where any potential money flows my way.