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I feel like these platforms are catering to a very particular kind of artist, an artist who has an audience that is willing to pay for content and not just cons
by cookingoils 7y ago
I feel like these platforms are catering to a very particular kind of artist, an artist who has an audience that is willing to pay for content and not just consume it. How do you make people pay for something they never paid for in the past?
Most interesting works of art are not acknowledged monetarily at least initially. Money means making compromises and artists really don’t like making those. I suppose the Drip or Patreon artist is something YouTube helped create. An artist created by the audience for the audience. I just wonder how this all fits into the current needs of artists that are not musicians or YouTube stars.
Artists primarily need funding and space. They need a free studio to work in and work relief so that they have time to focus on their art. In Europe this often happens through government backed grants. Of course in the US there’s a lack of funded for artists. What if these companies used their position and money to lobby for arts funding from the government? Obviously this would be hard in the current administration but maybe this could also be done privately. Imagine if the government or a bunch of tech companies were paying artists a living wage to create public works or art, teach in schools, and design our cities.
- fjsolwmv 7y agoCompanies can fund art directly (and many do, such as Google/YouTube), instead of wastefully routing it through government. Government can provide UBI and healthcare to the whole population instead of picking politically connected artists to make government approved art.
- cookingoils 7y agoSure there’s Google or Facebook residency, etc but they are specifically looking for artists that are using technology in their art or at least aren't questioning the companies / private interests that are funding them. There’s so many artists that don’t use computers to make their work. I mean a program that supports all artists. I also don’t think government programs like the WPA were a waste. I'd agree that UBI and healthcare could be one part of this. It's incredible that these aren't a given at this point. I guess I just feel like Drip and Patreon are creating a commodity where there shouldn't be one. Funding an artist only when they have an audience that has the means to pay them monthly is a sure way of making some bad art.
- anotherfounder 7y agoI agree with this problematic way of focusing on only a particular kind of artist. It is also my beef with the word 'creator' as used online, which is, designers and graphic artists with a spattering of Youtubers.