I was discussing the shifting paradigm taking place in the
computing and Music and Arts Industries with a colleague a couple of weeks ago,
and he said that Artists (Musical or otherwise) should have no expectations of
receiving compensation for their work these days. We go to a church where
“Circulation of Energy” (i.e. money and time) is the order of the day, and that
I shouldn’t have this expectation in the coming shift.
This reflects the general opinion of much of the population
these days, that anything that can be ripped or downloaded should be free to
have, and this idea is especially coming from the minds of teens and
twenty-something’s. None of these folks goes into work at a job they have (if
they have a job) and on payday tells their Boss, “You know, I love my job so
much, you don’t have to pay me. I just love doing it so much!”
Creatives often spend years, or even decades, learning and
then crafting their vision to produce the work that other non-Creative minds
take for granted. It doesn’t just spring out of the head and onto the page or
CD without great effort and sacrifice. For someone to say, ‘Well, it’s there,
and it’s there for me to take’ only disrespects the Artist whose work you value
enough to take.
In an age where jobs are being outsourced and Corporations
are crying poverty -- ‘We Can’t Afford to have Americans make our products.
They expect too much in pay and benefits…’ (this from Corporations who also
want to sell those very same products to those same un- and under-employed
Americans) – those same Corporations are screaming ‘Theft!’ by this population
that has incorporated their tactics.
Creative Work of Art, Music and Dance should be compensated
for. The greater the Work, the greater we should expect a return for our
investment of time and effort to give you any pleasure you get from our work –
not just taken for the ability and the technology to do it.
I have been a Visual Artist for decades. I have done close
to a thousand images in drawing, painting, multi-media or sculpture. I’ve also
shot close to 5000 images with my cameras over that time, creating images and
showing life in ways that most people (even Creatives) have not seen it. This
took tens of thousands of hours of my time over those decades. If I charge a
thousand dollars for a drawing that seem small in comparison to billboards, it
reflects that time spent perfecting my craft. And yes, I consider myself a
Master in both Drawing and Photography. I expect to be paid for my work and
what it reflects of my life and time spent.
A very well dressed Man walked up to me at a gallery opening
of mine in the past, and asked me how much time it took to draw an image he was
looking at. I made the mistake of telling him how much. When I did, he told me
I was asking “too much” for it. He then (apparently calculating that hour to do
this image at Mickie D’s wages) told me what he thought it was worth. I was too
stunned to tell him what I thought his opinion was worth.
To those who think that because it is on the Web or in
Digital format that the work should be free, I say, go back home and let Mommie
and Daddy take care of you then. Don’t waste my time/steal my work. If you have
nothing to offer anyone else, why should you expect to take what someone else
has to offer – for nothing?
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