April 27, 2003 | Filed under:

I was a theatre director for 10 years. A very poor theatre director. This expereince constantly informs and challenges my working on Kazaa Media Desktop - present and future.

I know very well that:

Professional artists need to get paid. But not necessarily every time their work is experienced because...

- Art needs to be experienced and talked about before people will take a chance and spend money
- Artists need insiration from other art
- Art is for exerybody and should not be for the elite
- I am using art in its broadest sense.

This piece on how artists are paid looks historically at how artists have been paid through the ages. It is looking at the art industry from a higher level than a art = 100 million dollar movie.

http://www.bricklin.com/artistspaid.htm

"Unpaid or unplanned exposure to an artist's work is often the source that leads to a patron or other income. Without exposure, there is no audience, no appreciation, and no reuse where your work lives on (the "most sincere form of flattery", which is a motivator for many). Without free exposure, many people without means or who do not know of an art form or of an artist's work would not be inspired to become artists themselves."

Lately we have heard the free files available of Kazaa refered to as 'shrinkage'. This is the term used to describe shoplifting in retail stores. This is completely wrong. If any artist wants to be successful without giving away experiences of their work - by asking for $15 upfront before a potential new fan can even sample how good they are - then they are doomed for failure. The free files on Kazaa are more like listening to music at a friend's house - an important component of finding an audience.

When I was a professional artist I knew that I needed to give away before I could generate new revenues:

"This use of a mixture of payments is common is all of selling. A hamburger is usually sold for much closer to its actual cost than the drink or fries consumed with it. The child-friendly environment in the restaurant is provided free of charge."

"Crucial to this ecosystem of different types and needs for payment is the discovery of the artist by people who would be users, and perhaps become part of the fan base and payers for performance, patrons, and commissioners. Frequently, that discovery comes from free, serendipitous exposure to the artist's work. A caricaturist who sketches likenesses of people in a public square is also an entertainer (another form of artist), providing free entertainment to those who watch. The crowds that form help attract others, a few of whom may become customers."

The art-making industry today seems to require global fame of the artist or entity to break-even. The model that CDs are sold within in particular means that most musicians are poor even though they might sell many hundres of thousands of CDs. A collaborative, digital distribution system means that you don't need to be famous. A niche electronic artist could have a niche audience of 50,000 people globally that is completely sufficient to pay his costs and to provide a good living.

"Listening to representatives from the recording and movie industries, you would think that selling fixed artifacts is the only way that artists can get paid. That has never been the case, and should not be in the future or else society and art itself will suffer. Those publishing businesses may be based on that one form of payment, but the artists' livelihood need not."

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to my feed.

Digg this entry.