CREATE at the NEWSEUM: Brad Holland, Colleen Doran, Marcus Johnson, John Harrington, Evan Lowenstein
on June 16th, 2011A conversation with creators on the challenges of monetizing art in the digital age. The talk is one hour. This was the last event of the day, but I will post the rest of the conference as I dig up more videos.
We all look a bit broad in this widescreen video distortion.
Pretty interesting. The fact that the panel had artists from different disciplines was both enlightening and frustrating.
The one point that struck me was the idea of the unique experience as the selling point. Whereas the performing artist has the ability to exploit that, the graphic artist rarely can sell tickets to the creative process.
Your point at the end was excellent. I don’t know if the person who are pirating your work care all that much, however. I think the abundance of long-form serialized comics plus American sensibilities actually hurt creator-owned comics in the long run, but I do think that work that maintains a unique voice versus a team of interchangeable writers and artists is more interesting to me. Of course, I’m a longtime reader of comics so my tastes have “matured”.
It may be that, in this digital age and the perception of entitlement of free access, it is nearly impossible to protect one’s work against piracy. I do think the answer lies in providing an experience in the created work that is hard to duplicate.
Excellent comments, Doug.
No one believes piracy can be stopped. Piracy has always been with us. But now it is easier than ever.
We are in a position that we now have to sing for our supper every day. The book is not enough. A publisher’s marketing team is not enough. The creator has to sell themselves, and be someone readers want to support.
This is not easy for many creators who are naturally reserved. This is not easy for creators who do thoughtful, introspective work. I’m not sure what the solution is.
Piracy is not perceived as a problem by the audience at large. Radio is electronic, comes into your home, and is free. TV is electronic, comes into your home, and is free. The internet is electronic, comes into your home… and is free. The horse has bolted, taking the toothpaste with it.
It would seem that we are now witness to the destruction of the old status quo, and the birth of something new. The cult of celebrity is of necessity going to have to apply to those in the creative/artistic media: it’s now all about personality, and the personal appearance. The leveraging of a niche popularity to make a small, regular income. We can see this with the rise of the small print run art books/portfolios uniquely sold at convention appearances by comic artists: a new set of artworks, in a nice format, that can be signed and/or sketched in by the artist to create a memento for the devoted fan. A bunch of pictures is no longer enough to make a compelling web site, it absolutely requires the full input of the artist to provide something that cannot be found anywhere else: the personal interaction with the fans.
Great comments, Allan. That’s about the size of it.
And for all those creators who shy away from celebrity: good luck. I honestly don’t see how to make money without it. Celebrity is kind of gross, and I didn’t get into comics to become one, but there it is.