Good!
Because there's an addendum to that sentence. It's the End of The Arts Industry As We Know It. I'm a writer, so publishing is my sector. It's an industry that's existed longer than universal literacy. In other words, it's an industry that made it's own market and naturally the decks were stacked in the publisher's favour. Yes, the masses could walk with their wallets, but prices were set, audiences were predictable and one only has to look at the late Ms Cartland to see how people could make a mint writing popular books which were in no way great literature. Compare this to the life of writers like Kerouac, and does something not seem to be amiss?
And then came the Internet. Here's where shit gets all Amanda Palmer. Suddenly, increasingly, poetry is free, books are free, publishers can no longer control the flow of art. There's going to be some shit writing out there, because people like shit. There's also going to be some diamonds.
But what this does mean is that the power is with us as consumers. The publishing industry existed for a reason, and with it's decline there's a greater responsibility on art consumers than ever before. Here's my philosophy as an artist for the digital age.
- You can steal my art. I'm not a poet for the money. If someone likes what I'm producing my first impulse is to gratitude and honour. So take it. Borrow it. Respond to it. Pay me by emailing me and saying what it meant to you, or by showing my your dog eared copy of my book, or by explaining to me in EVERY MINUTE DETAIL exactly what I have done to make your life in some small way slightly richer. That's as much as I could ever want.
- I can always get a real job. And if my art doesn't support me, I will have to. Consequently there will be less creative work in the future. The person who has the power to make that choice is the reader who loves my work an has the money to pay for it. You either do or you don't, I'll keep trying regardless. I would ask you to give me money if you can. But if you don't there's not a damn thing I can do about it. The arts industry is becoming all carrot and no stick, and that's just the way I like it.
- Gratitude is Radical. To be a creative person is to take up people's precious time for things they may not enjoy. And with my work? It's often to say things which are disruptive. This is an audacious ask. Humility is important when doing it, and gratitude for those who entertain my notions of profundity.
