Is Art Free? and a Dylan MP3
Now here’s a question for you.
Should we pay money for art?
I’ve been thinking this one over a bit lately given the recent proliferation of freeconomics on the web and I am searching for answers.
Maybe you can help?
So for the sake of argument let’s start at an art gallery opening that you happen to stumble upon while cruising some hip part of town, you nudge your buddy and say “hey, let’s check that out, free wine!”. I’ve done that more than once and I am sure there are serial gallery creepers out there just trawling openings for the free booze (mainly other artists, musos and actors).
However, on this particular occasion you see a canvas hanging on the wall and you just love it, LOVE it. It speaks to you in ways no words ever could, it’s texture, colour and composition just gets right under your skin, it’s strange, unique, inexplicable and vivid, words fail you. What happens next?, well maybe that doesn’t matter, you see, you just love it and that is a priceless moment of art appreciation, totally free. This visual feast is an unencumbered gift directly from the artists heart to you. Nice. But you pay $500, you meet the painter and start telling all your friends about it and are burning for the 3 weeks you got to wait before you can hang the damn thing in your room.
So at the visceral level, you are paying nothing for art, art is free because art is an expression-experience and not a purchasable commodity. The purpose of art is to move your spirit in unexpected ways, humanity manifest and for everything else “there’s Mastercard”. So the only reason you paid the 500 bucks was so that you could OWN it, and enjoy it in the privacy of your dwelling at the exclusion of all but you and your homies. Sure you could argue that you also bought it to support the artist, but I hazard to guess that you’re not running a charity here but if you are, I could send you a list as long as my filemaker-pro “find all songwriters” query result outputs for you to run your eye over if you’d like, it’s a long list. Chances are, if it’s not your nieces 1st year ink blotch landscapes then if you don’t love it then most probably all cash stays in your pocket, right?
You could easily switch up this experience with a music venue, street corner busker or hearing THAT song for the first time on your sweethearts car stereo. A song, becomes THAT song and then instantly YOUR song and all for free while you stood there with your mouth agape listening. You might have walked on, flipped a quarter or been powerless in stopping yourself from buying the CD. Nice, again.
So where am I going with this? Well, unlike a painting that hangs in a gallery or now in your living room as your objet d’amour a music track is like a virus that can replicate and spread itself throughout the digital universe of iThings. That MP3 is an untameable, irretrievable and serpentine little bastard and for all intents and purposes, free as a bird, a fait accompli.
From my reasoning thus far, the economics of a recording artist appears to be vanishing as quickly as the nasty merlot at the exhibition opening.
So why am I spending the equivalent of 2 years rent on making that next album!? I’m glad you asked.
It’s a question that I am hearing more and more these days from my muso buddies with the global financial downturn-slamdunk and all. With all the media and pop marketing gurus saying the same thing, “if you love your content, set it free” what’s a guy to do? This is not the same as scoffing “if you can’t make money from art why bother making it?” which is a question reserved purely for those chewing on the blue pill. Look, there is nothing worse than a whining musician lamenting the busted ways of a world gone wrong with tanking CD sales while drowning in a sea of proto-talent that extends as far as the bandwidth can see. I don’t consider myself that type of guy, but what’s the deal? What’s the deal?, the new deal, you know how last weeks deal was the old deal, right? oh, you missed that blog, geez, social networking is so yesterbyte , huh?, this afternoons tweet-ference on micro-monitizationism and longtail nechenomics was sooo boring, it went on for minutes, talk about stonehenge, they even had a rep from a record label! no i’m not kidding, brb.
Being facetious here doesn’t help my cause (much) and every cynical pessimist will profess to be a realist but the ‘what’s the deal’ question remains, if art is free, then as an artist what’s left to ethically monetize and how does one sustain that to a level that allows for the usual subset of humble social aspirations. “You could sell some t-shirts and buttons at the gig” your friend says while scratching their chin earnestly or “how about you get your music on the telly?” mum asks as if it’s some grocery item you inexplicably left off your list last time you shopped.
From my direct experience and from the tour scars of my compadres the humble coin is out there on the road, the only place where the face-to-face exchange of art exists for a musician, and for all intents and purposes it’s free because it’s performance art (hey, you might have to pay a few bucks for the right to go through some doors and sit at a bar or buy a CD if you want). Cormac McCarthy once wrote a book about a road, and when I saw the movie, Viggo Mortensen looked not unlike most touring singer-songwriters after a stretch of house concerts, bombed club dates, cash sucking music conferences, fried engine blocks and deeper fried truck stop shash. To all you touring musicians out there, we salute us!
So, I ask you the question … do you feel, like I do, that art is free and if so what’s the new deal?
Just click on the gift box above to open/download the MP3
The MP3 above is free, free as a bird, it’s a tune by Bob Dylan I tracked, I once played drums for the guy while sound checking, that’s a story for another time … tomorrow is such a longtime … enjoy.
Please leave your comment below, I will read them all.
Follow on Twitter
31.03.2010(7:13 am)
I love your writing. Love it. You are remarkable and gifted. You make me laugh in that surprised, “i always knew that, just never knew it could be expressed” way.
While I’m sitting here at 2am, regretting procrastinating for the last 8 weeks at College, you make me - at long last - actually think.
Damn you and bless you. In equal measures.
31.03.2010(7:33 am)
DRM, The moment is ‘free’ yes, but many of us want to remember it again and again; so in hope that we can capture the fleetingnes of what struck a chord in our hearts we try to purchase the ‘item’. When we look or listen again, a whole different experience unfolds: what initially sparked our attention may well have layers much deeper and longer lasting than imagined. Artists, musicians & writers are braver than many; they open the back of the watch and show their inner workings; perhaps encouraging others or reminding us that the mechanism within us is so similar (and time is fleeting).
There was a moment, during the two-floor hotel party-fest, that looking around there was a realization: Quiet, focused attention & listening to words, music and quality of your moment: no amps, mics or gizmos. Amidst the bruhaha an island, escape. This may not be an easy living, but hopefully worthwhile and many would never share the moment if you played only to drunken barflies on distant continents. With luck some compensation will fall in your lap, hopefully it’s enough to keep you doing what you love!
PS You could always make it as a writer with your command of language, keen observations and drole sense of humor.(generosity)
31.03.2010(7:58 am)
[...] » Is Art Free? and a Dylan MP3 http://www.davidrossmacdonald.com/wordpress/?p=767 – view page – cached I’ve been thinking this one over a bit lately given the recent proliferation of freeconomics on the web and I am searching for answers. Filter tweets [...]
31.03.2010(9:56 am)
http://www.calgarysun.com/entertainment/movies/2010/03/31/13422966.html
We believe in Happy Endings
31.03.2010(11:50 am)
It doesn’t all have to be free, which is why the concept of Creative Commons is so powerful. You can still “give away” your work but reap the benefits when your fan base wants more.
http://creativecommons.org/
Make a track or two available via CC and the rest normally. It’s fish food, really, to get us all excited, because invariably we’ll want more.
Some artists release CC tracks they have recorded in lo-fi and then sell the hi-fi versions. Some take a track from an existing project and make it CC but keep the rest to sell (i.e. picking one for radio).
The big benefit is that your fan base can be the new radio, passing around that CC track without restriction (but with attribution) to whomever is interested. In most cases, that social distribution rivals what commercial radio could ever do for an artist.
31.03.2010(11:53 am)
Maybe we are seeing a cultural shift from the commodification of objects towards the commercialisation of experience?
Check this post out: http://bit.ly/1VoXqf
Sal Randolph says it better than I ever could.
Me, I like to think of my Art as a gift. Does that mean I am naive? It certainly makes it harder for me to do good Capitalism!
31.03.2010(1:32 pm)
Art of all kinds is indeed a gift, both for those blessed with the talent to create it and for those who are, in turn, blessed with the sensory experience of it.
As an artist how can you not produce and create, as that is your calling…
Whether you survive in the modern, techno world or not is something you should try not to worry about.. have faith and do what you were born to do and you will touch the hearts of many, lead a meaningful and fulfilling existence and perhaps, even prosper in the end!
31.03.2010(3:07 pm)
Fin … many thanks for your beautiful words .. now back to that paper!
OZ, always a charm to get your thoughts, see you in ON in the summer..
Thanks for the link Gayle, that whole Torrents goin’ to cry some a river if the legals and majors have their way..
Hey Greg, I will look more into your CC suggestion, I like it and I don’t like it as it opens the doors for mash artists and majors to pilfer a creation … but i should test that water, thank you …
Thanks Samara, I like the line “the value of art is where you place it”…
And Sam, yes, the sameways bothways gift .. and what me worry?!
DRM
31.03.2010(3:49 pm)
Dave
Thanks for your musings on the question of art and value. I appreciate your clear sense of reflective wondering - yes or no answers would be much easier, but less real. The responses before me say much of what I think and feel. Some observations from experience:
Sometimes the professional work I do is worth $1.50 an hour, sometimes it is worth $2,000 an hour. My normal charge rate is much nearer the former than the later! However, some of the most interesting, enjoyable and useful things I do bring no remuneration at all.
Value, like power, is given, not taken. We set the value and exercise the power for the benefit of ourselves and each other. How else could we survive at all in the much flaunted but frequently destructive ‘commercial’ world?
May the music (and the money) keep flowing.
31.03.2010(3:56 pm)
Call me old school but musicians/ artists deserve to be fairly compensated for the works they create. I do not deserve to take it from them for free nor should the expectation be that they should part with it as a gift to the world.
I don’t own any music that I did not pay for. I run into younger coworkers who tell me they never pay for music. I ask them how they expect the musician to put food on the table and make a living. Convinced there is a magical stash of cash somewhere from the big record companies to compensate the artist, they sleep without a guilty conscience.
Why should art be free? Almost nothing else is… we are creating a generation of starving artists who can never hope to devote their whole life to creating music. In the meantime, the music thieves will steal every track from an artist they can get their hands on and continue to expect more while the artist has to find creative and often futile ways to produce a quality product without the funds to record it.
Attitudes need to be adjusted…the right to free music must be challenged by more than the record companies and corporate vested interests…as unethical. Its theft must be challenged and the consequences to artists must be debated as part of everyday conversation if this trend is to be reversed.
31.03.2010(4:32 pm)
Thanks Bill … your sentiment on value rings true .. and RRB, i agree that attitudes need to be adjusted but I am also trying to keep an open mind and say to myself “so music is now free … OK, well then i gotta create a new deal” … you are spot on about file sharing, if enough folks do it then the majority rule of group ethics shifts to it being OK … and I don’t think that punishing those who do that will make a lick of difference either. Thank you for these thoughts gentlemen, as you were. DRM (that’s my signature not ‘Digital Rights Management’)
31.03.2010(7:34 pm)
Hey David, There has to be significant reward when you see that your music moves people. There should be significant reward in being able to express yourself in a way that many others only dream of. I will always be grateful for a gift of music and would love to own it for a while in my front room. So next Edmonton trip - home concert at my place and we’ll see what we can do about rent money.
31.03.2010(8:45 pm)
Hi David,
I saw you here in Victoria, BC, Canada, when you opened for the Undesirables. I bought your cd and love it. I just posted a link to your piece above on FB and Twitter, hope that helps somewhat.
I’m a book publisher and struggling with the same questions you talk about. I believe artists should be richly rewarded for the beauty they give this world. I wish we all valued art more. And, by working in the arts I guess I’ve chosen a path where it’s my job to convince people to pay for the art they enjoy. But how’s that going to work with e-books? We look to the music industry all the time and try to see a way of making it work for words on a page. I don’t have any answers. But I keep hoping.
What I can tell you is that I would happily pay twice or thrice what I paid for your cd, for the enjoyment I get from it. I played your free-as-as-bird download, with some hesitation (because what does it say that I take what’s given freely?) and will send people your way as I can, in hopes that it gets you more exposure.
Keep doing what you’re doing – making art, sharing art, selling art, and talking about it. We’re listening to all of it and value what you are saying and singing.
Thanks,
Ruth
31.03.2010(10:37 pm)
Two Ruths, struth! Yes, Edmonton house concert, more likely this year .. so I will look at that calendar and get it sorted, thank you Ruth.
And Ruth, so glad you feel my record would have been a bargain at thrice the price, will keep that in mind for next time i tour the island … generous folks with pockets full of gold, i like it!
DRM
31.03.2010(10:56 pm)
Gidday Dave, thanks for the question, for the prompt and the pain. Art is free but what is free? How is it that such a beautiful little word can conjure such diametrical notions: that of a winged and feathered thing that sails the sky; of a child’s excited laughter; of oceans and ancient trees and night skies brimming with lights from other epochs. And then there’s the other more tethered notion, cojoined to that demon, money. Art is surely one and not the other. So, it’s free and it’s not free - thank the almighty spirits!
A few thoughts float to the surface, in particular, Van Gogh’s amazing story. Was it 1 or 2 paintings he sold in his life? And he created something like 500 paintings in the last three years of his life: I tend to think that there was no point in your question for him. Now, I’d never wish his tortured soul upon anyone, yet i’d suggest that his was the brightest star among his contemporaries(thanks to the promotional efforts of his sister-in-law after he passed).
I understand that traditional Aboriginal art was mostly a momentary thing, often whispered in sand and having done its job, left to be tossed back into the ether of dreams by the elements. Compare this then to the pillage now known with similar work.
Unfortunately, when art dallies with the demon notion of free, it wanes a little: Money corrupts, full stop.
Art does not need to be owned but art and artists need to be supported and it needs to be shared. It is the substance of and nectar for our souls.
That’s a bit rambly but I felt like posting a thought or two, just because you asked so nicely.
Thank-you for bothering to read. Take care.
01.04.2010(12:32 am)
nice post bonesy … well evolved and your reference to the transient nature of aboriginal art which immediately immediately reminded me of the ephemeral works of Andy Goldsworthy … thank you
01.04.2010(2:58 am)
Dear Mr Dave
I’ll try to keep this shorter as my last rant to you elicited a tl;dr of a kind. I can give evidence and references later if you need them. There isn’t a really short way to say all this however, so bear with me.
Art is a successful evolutionary strategy. It allows us to experience unfamilar mental states outside of a life-threatening context and thereby prepare ourselves not only for the faint possibility of those specific states occurring but, more importantly, for the experience of strangeness in general.
It’s important, and permanent. It is the secret of our success as a species, the bleeding edge of our consciousness.
As we grow more numerous we become more specialised and interdependent. This too is an evolutionary strategy - our own mitochondria demonstrate it by their very existence, having once been independent organisms that banded together to create complex life.
Successful social specialisation, that is to say specialisation which facilitates complexity via interdependence, requires a level of professionalism that cannot be attained or maintained by part-time praxis of any profession.
We need art, and we need its practitioners to be competent, so they need to make art full-time. The question is then how we pay them a living.
The Australia Council, paid for by everyone via tax, encourages conservatism by means of peer review. Nobody, once taken seriously enough to get on the committee, wants to look a fool by backing something unknown and possibly unpopular. Conservatism is the antithesis of art and foils its evolutionary value.
The recording industry is dying: record companies were basically banks that lent wages and recording fees against future sales of physical media. Galleries worked the same way, by banking on exclusivity - counting on their own ability to block unpaid access to creative work. They are also dying out.
So we come to the real basis of your question: in the absence of traditional income sources, how do you and I now make enough of a living as artists to be able to make work of the quality that society requires to maintain its increasing level of specialisation?
One answer might lie in CASH: http://cashmusic.org/
While this does not address the problems of visual artists it does present one alternative to musicians. I do not belong to it because I have a visual art praxis that I consider to be as important as my music and I am still looking for a solution that encompasses all creative possibilities.
I do think however that some kind of online tribal system that encompasses curatorial impulses, subscription patronage and micropayments and that works to facilitate the professionalism of artists, the need for facilitators (curators, reviewers, broadcasters, venues, technicians, roadies) and the desire for altered-state experience in everyone, including people who cannot contribute to either of the aforementioned roles, is necessary, and I am working on such a system myself.
I need back-end programmers who love relational databases and would like to take a punt on something that may or may not actually work, but will change the world forever if it does. If you know any, give them my address.
Hope this is all of some use.
All the best,
k.
P.S. I love the cello version of Pepper Tree - can I send it to my cellist please? Inspirational.
01.04.2010(5:01 am)
K … a lot of heavy lifting here, thank you for putting your shoulder to the wheel on this, great. checking out CASH now, sounds v.cool and pass on that MP3 with impunity … i hope it further inspires .. Mel Robinson is the bomb… good to be amongst you change makers and idea-kites. DRM
01.04.2010(6:22 pm)
Dave, wow, you have a whole bunch of different deep issues in there.
The simple answer is ‘yes’.
Its a bit like the saying ‘there people who grew up on a farm and those who wished they did’. There are people brave enough to make art their living, then there are those of us who admire your bravery as we dabble from the sidelines.
In my humble experience, most people only value things they need to pay for, in one way or another. People will pay for a repeated good experience.
10 or 15 years ago, did you see the way the music industry would be changing now due to our ‘electronic times’? It’s likely it will have all changed again in another 10 years’ time in ways we can’t imagine right now. Therefore, adaptability is the answer to survival, and with that, diversity of talents. Also, its about seeing the trends and looking ahead. (…hey, look on the bright side - just think about those 3 billion extra fans in the world you may have by 2050 and how to tap in to them!? )
Its pretty basic. You have an inner need to create and share, that isn’t bound by conventional means. You need to eat. You need to balance the two. Unfortunately free art does not equal free food…well not in today’s society.
Your life will be more fulfilled than many others by the path you have chosen. Try not to do your head in by thinking about it too much!!
we’re all out here supporting you, as we can.
01.04.2010(7:25 pm)
Aquagirl … yes, adaptability coupled with ‘not doing your head in’ rings true .. considering your insight on adaptability and trend analysis did you return to your ocean living ways because of the trend in rising sea levels? (kidding, really am, dumb gag, but who knows? … maybe we will return to the oceans like dolphins in millions of years hence.)
Dumb joke aside, you are so correct, the music world today is pretty much unrecognizable relative to 15 years ago … hell, no science fiction writer even fantasized the invention of the internet! … and it is argued that the rates of change are exponential and by 2030 humanity will have a completely different definition and meaning.
Cheers Aquagirl, thanks for your ideas and thoughts … DRM
03.04.2010(6:38 pm)
I have recently thought that if all the music in all the world was silenced for even just 1 day, everyone would immediately realize its worth. It is priceless. It should never have been made to be free.
You have been a favorite of mine ever since I first discovered you in 2005. The world would not be the same for me if DRM was no longer singing, playing, writing and creating. I wish I could give you $20 dollars for every time my daughter and I danced to your Waltzing Matilda. That one dance is worth at least that! And all the times we danced it… Unfortunately, or fortunately, I’m of the same species as you (though not nearly such a great guitarist, and not nearly so established!!!), and there doesn’t seem to be an “off” button. All we can do is continue what we do, and to do it with as much love we can muster up, even when on a downswing. It is impossible not to become cynical, but to hold onto humour and optimism (which you seem to do very well!), keeps the music alive, the energy fresh, and all possibilities possible.
Best wishes and best of luck! You are priceless!! And if I had a million dollars (if I had a million dollars), I would buy you a house (I would buy you a house). And then you would never have to pay rent! (I hope you get my Barenaked Ladies reference. I know you come from land down under!)
Carrie
04.04.2010(2:04 am)
Carrie … thank you for such supporting words … hey, in the space of 2 paragraphs you went from offering $20 to a million … you should write me another paragraph! alakazam! DRM cheers..
04.04.2010(8:17 am)
$20 a dance! That would add up nicely! (If only I wasn’t scraping by.) My brothers also have your albums (I bought copies for them) and enjoy listening to your music with their children. You are really inspiring, and truly one of my favorite performers!
I look forward to your next album. And I wish I could help out more. I do promise that I’ll be purchasing a few copies when it is released! And I’ll spread the word as best I can.
Cheers,
Carrie
10.05.2010(3:09 pm)
Very enjoyable article Dave. Well written and poses some serious deliberative content. While some art is free it can be the portal into a priceless dimension that is above and beyond dollars. So that paying for that experience is irrelevant. Like eating. Well some eating costs and we think about how much to pay for what we put into the belly. Other times it’s on another level and we just eat.
The experience of musical creativity feeds an aspect of our psych that will acknowledge that hunger after a taste. So the free taste plays it’s role in the development of an insatiable hunger for the magic that is cradled within that free mp3. Some things are beyond money and the belief that spirit matters more will mean that financial aspects will be taken care of. Well that’s always a good theory, hope it works. Let me know if you need a feed, can always cook something up! Can’t wait to buy your next cd and book you for the next house concert Dave
10.05.2010(9:26 pm)
Good thoughts here Marie … you bet, see you at a house concert some time soon and all the best with your songwriter evenings in country Victoria.
09.08.2010(1:02 pm)
Dear David,
I am a music and software “pirate” and hesitate none to download stuff. If it’s out there in abundance it’s mine. It is my generation and I belong to it.
Strange however that for some things that I really treasure I would actually buy them, including yours.
There is some kind of connection that I cannot explain. Me, the artist, and the art. Which a simple download would not do.
I cannot explain it but that’s how it is.
Thanks for all your work. Truly beautiful.
A.C.
12.08.2010(1:21 pm)
A.C. talkin’ ’bout your generation … i find it fascinating and really appreciate your kind words … all the very best, DRM