Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Kurt Andersen on the Future of the Artist in the Digital Age
Posted by Jonny Diamond on Tue, Jan 29, 2013 at 6:09 AM
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4. I've long been intrigued by the 5,000 Fan Theory (pre-Twitter!), which suggests that an artist needs "only" 5,000 dedicated fans (who will spend money on new material) to survive. Louis CK and Radiohead have successfully bypassed industry middlemen, but only after growing a following through conventional commercial models. Is it possible for newer artists to reject commercial conventions and survive through a DIY digital approach?
Yes, but. Louis CK and Radiohead were made famous by big corporate gatekeepers before they started eliminating middlemen. We have yet to see how and if that works on a large scale and at the non-superstar level, especially in cultural realms outside pop music and comedy. Let's talk in 10 years.
5. Is there a paradigm shift here? Or is digital technology just a faster and better way for artists to make a living the same way they've been doing for centuries (patronage, hustling the art, advertising, etc.)? Are we made too easily breathless by this or that new platform?
Probably both a paradigm shift and a reversion to the old ways. We are definitely not in the 20th century anymore. It is, in its way, a real-life steampunk phenomenon: pre-modern patronage and hard-selling and hustling but now equipped with futuristic tools.
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About The Author
Jonny Diamond
Jonny Diamond is the Editor-in-Chief of The L Magazine and Brooklyn Magazine. He is from Canada and also writes made-up stories.
