When you connect with another person, there is an exchange. I do or give you something and you do or give me something in return.
Previously I posted about how if people want a job, they should learn to program. Though schools are behind the curve in teaching students how to program, programming offers one of the most powerful and rewarding ways for people to learn to think creatively, to solve problems, to earn a living, and to make products that are useful.
But what about artists? What about people who think creatively, yet speak in a language of passion, emotion, and vision? What about those who dream, compose, play, write, draw, sculpt, and paint?
I actually don’t think programmers and artists are all that different, but the fact remains that many artists have a harder time making a living from their art than programmers do from their coding. And it should come as a surprise to no one that the music industry and the publishing industry as two examples have been turned upside down with the advent of the internet, causing even more confusion and uncertainty for artists.
The internet allows anyone to connect directly with anyone else.
So, for example, the old gatekeepers like publishers, who served as intermediaries between authors and readers, are being bypassed by authors seeking to sell their books and stories and poems directly to readers.
Yet it is still difficult for authors to make a living from their writing. Not impossible, and it takes time to build up momentum, but it’s certainly not an easy path to crawl.
How can artists help fund their creative endeavors, beyond the direct sales of their art?
They can make connections directly with other people and then they can ask them for their help.
Art is about making something—a poem, a story, a painting, a song, a statue— that makes a connection with the viewer/listener/reader/fan. Artists are used to letting their art make the connections with their fans. If the fan likes the art, the fan may support the artist with future business.
But there’s still this intermediary—the art—between the artist and the fan.
With the internet, the author, for example, can sell a book directly to a reader, bypassing a traditional publisher, but even more importantly, the author can directly connect with a reader and, among other things, ask the reader for support in addition to selling them their art.
This idea of the artist connecting with their fans and asking their fans for help is behind the phenomenal success of grassroots funding sites like Kickstarter, which has, since their launch on April 28, 2009, helped artists fund over 35,000 creative projects with more than $500 million pledged by more than 3 million fans.
This idea behind artists directly connecting with their fans is quite powerfully made by Amanda Palmer in her TED talk “The Art of Asking”:
Her message, which earned her a standing ovation, is simple: when people really see one another, when they make a connection, they want to help each other.
The media asked Amanda: “The music business is tanking and you encourage piracy, how do you make all these people pay for music?”
Amanda replied: “I didn’t make them. I asked them. And through the very act of asking them, you connect with them. And when you connect with them, people want to help you.”
While Amanda’s talk is focused on musicians, I think her message applies to all artists—artists should learn to embrace the medium of the internet, make connections with their fans, and ask for their help when needed.
This idea is a bit controversial, as Amanda discusses in her talk.
But what’s wrong with trying? What’s wrong with trying to make a connection with fans?
Nothing, in my opinion. If you are an artist, I encourage you to embrace the internet and embrace your fans. I encourage you to make connections.
As a writer, I write and develop content here on kendallgiles.com because I want to connect with people—I want to find people I can help and people who might like my stories and people who might want to hear what I have to say.
The internet offers us all a chance to get to know one another. I’m inviting you to get to know me through my writings and my podcasts and my videos and other projects I’m working on.