In the below voice update, Scott Lee speaks on behalf of the hidden power of artists everywhere. He wants artists to discover their ability to produce better quality work, market their creations under united organizations, and make money doing it.
Voice blog outline/notes:
- Art throughout history - purposes behind the creations.
- Art today and the modern model - a commercialized industry powered by high finance.
- Why companies should be competing to offer artists better deals, and not the other way around.
- The biggest philosophical mistake artists make when trying to accomplish their goals: failing to believe in their intentions.
- Developing your art for commercialization and doing your homework - read about copyright (Copyright.gov), learn about the legal side and contracts: make collaborations about business from the very start, tailor at least some of what you do to an audience: marketing, be persistent and don’t give up.
Transcription of Part 1:
Hey, it’s Scott from Barton Ct. Productions and I don’t really have a whole lot of time so I’ll have to kind of be brief with this one but today I want to talk about artist’s hidden power. And this is supposed to be about the model that artists are supposed to be “starving artists,” right? We’ve all that phrase, “starving artists?” Well, I want to start by talking about where art began in history or at least known history. First of all, art has been around pretty much forever. For as long as human beings have been around, art has been around. This is why you have drawings on cave walls and stuff like that, but I’m not just talking about art in terms of drawing, paintings, or anything like that. And I’m also not talking about historical art but…
The purpose behind art has never been to create money, to make money. It is only in recent time in modern society that art has become so commercialized. Art used to be paid for by governments - statues constructed of leaders and religious figures, and things like that…things painted in the name in God, and all these things used to take place sort of subsidized by funding from somewhere. And to this day, I live in Houston, if you go to the Alley Theater or anywhere, they still refer to people who financially support the institutions as patrons. And there was always a select audience who would support art.
But art is not so subsidized today. Art is not funded by a select group of people. It is funded in large part by the public. But instead of governments or small private institutions doing anything, it’s giant corporations, the huge record labels. The massive motion picture studios, the photography sites. There are tons of companies out there now, huge companies, that have made art truly an industry. And in fact you now have what is referred to as the “entertainment industry.”
So art today and its modern model is a commercialized industry powered by high finance.
But, there’s a problem.
The problem is: artists don’t realize and in fact they often times feel guilt over this whole modern model of commercialization. Artists are meant to be paid for their work today, but artists are not getting paid. In fact, sometimes they don’t even want money. Well, this is a noble kind of effort, but you’re cutting yourself short by simply accepting that you shouldn’t make money, when in fact the whole industry that does exist, billions and billions of dollars worth, says that you’re supposed to be paid. The copyright laws that exist that have been fought for by artists say that you are supposed to be paid.
The biggest philosophical mistake artists make when trying to accomplish their goals is failing to believe in their intentions. So many artists I know have such low confidence. Now, it’s good to be critical, okay? It’s good to be critical but it’s also bad to be too critical. You want to be able to continuously improve your craft, your work, whatever it may be, while at the same time understanding that there is more to be done. More to be done that you can do. You have to be confident, you have to be sure of your goals, and you have to trust that you are going to complete them. And you also have to look at things in terms of a product.
So, this might be troubling for some artists because some artists want to be charitable with their art, and I suppose that if you absolutely have to go that route, there is nothing I can do to stop you. But - a lot of artists want to make money off their art they just simply do not believe that they can. There is a reason that all the garage bands that exist and all these different rock bands are from early 20 year olds. Now some people might say, “oh, it’s the lifestyle of rock and roll. There’s drugs, and alcohol and stuff killing off these people and they simply don’t live to be that old.” Well, no, that’s not true.
Tons of people you talk to in middle age say, “Oh, yeah, I was in a band. Yeah, we tried to get famous” and all this. Bands are waiting for the golden ticket. They’re waiting for Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. They want something to come along, magical, that will allow them to skyrocket their success and make millions of dollars. They want a big giant record company to drive down to their town where they’re performing, they want them to come see and watch the entire show, then they want these guys to buy the album that they are selling on a very limited basis. And then they say, “offer us a really good deal and make us millionaires and rock stars.”
Now, record companies are huge. They have a lot of money. But even going to a huge company like that and making that kind of a request, mmm…a little unrealistic to expect anything out of it. Record companies pick and choose the very best talent that they can possibly find, and not just the best talent that they can find, but the most marketable talent that they can find. There’s some extremely talented artists that simply don’t fit the mainstream model of what’s making money in the music industry today.
But what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to stop thinking in terms of getting a golden ticket. Get together with other artists, get together with your audience. Unite. Do it yourself. Do not wait for the big companies to come along and sweep you up into their big, seemingly inviting arms. There’s a few bands that that might work best for and there’s a few artists that it might work best for them to be picked up by giant companies but the fact of the matter is that we’ve got to start looking at a different sort of model here. We’ve got to start looking at things in terms of independence - what can you offer on your own?
It’s very difficult to figure out, but I suppose that if you think about the fact that it’s probably possible to make money independently, you probably want to learn how to do it. Well, let me tell you a few things that I know that sort of come from my own experience. I’m going to give you some homework if you really, really want to get serious about your art and get serious about making money. Here’s what you’ve got to do to develop your art for commercialization…
The first thing you need to do is learn about copyright. You want to learn about every legal aspect of copyright that you can possibly learn, and you can start doing this for free! You can go to www.copyright.gov. Everything you need to know about copyright and more is at this website. There’s also a lot of legal books on copyright. Get onto Amazon.com, Google stuff, start asking around. You want to network as much as possible. Get to know as many people that are as close to the industry as possible. Befriend them, do favors for them. In turn they will probably do favors for you.
You want to learn about the legal side of the industry. No matter what it may be, you are an artist and all art industries follow certain legal aspects. Whenever you make deals, whenever you start working with other people, from the get go it should be all business. Whenever you’re a band, whenever you’re a four piece, set up a band agreement immediately in writing. Set up a contract, designate a manager. Okay? Figure out where the money is going to come from to support what it is you’re doing. Work out a plan. And get it all in writing, that is the most important thing, get everything in writing.
So even if you’re working with other artists, I don’t care if they’re your best friends that you’ve known for a decade or more, get it all in writing. Start forming contracts, start forming official agreements, stuff in printed ink, learn how to do this stuff.
Transcription of Part 2:
And especially when you start working with other companies, get everything in writing. And you also have to understand your leverage in certain situations. If you can understand your leverage in certain situations you can make much more powerful deals, get a lot more out of them. But you’ve also got to understand the leverage that you don’t have. You’ve got to know how to pick your battles.
Start reading books not just on contracts and legalities. Start reading books on negotiation, books on selling, marketing. You’ve got to learn all of the same stuff that the big business people know who are promoting your work. Learn as much as you possibly can, education is where you start. These bands that get together and they graduate high school and then they start playing for the next four years and they start working really low paying jobs, guys - it’s not going to work that well if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing.
If you really want to get into that industry, major in it, go to college. Yes, rock stars can go to college too, believe it or not.
So that’s essentially it. You’ve got to learn all the same things that the people who are making deals with you know. And if you can, know more.
And perhaps, the very last piece of advice that I can give, the most important one: is that no matter what happens…remember that while you’ve got this new focus on it being commercial…you must never ever surrender the fact that this is your passion. Do not give up. Some people work for years and years on end before they get anywhere and then suddenly they break through the surface and things happen. Things happen for them.
So, that about wraps it up. Visit the official Barton Ct. website for more voice blogs like this and other updates. You can see everything that company is doing at www.BartonCT.com. Keep fighting for the creative revolution and remember artists: don’t give up.
