Wow, talk about coincidences, Prince has a deal with Verizon. LOL!!
Besides the great info I just found at Art Biz Blog put down below, I looked up Alyson's blog and found this:
The following is from the Washington Post article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/arts/music/22pare.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=c0039dca7d82289d&ex=1342756800&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
"Prince’s priorities are obvious. The main one is getting his music to an audience, whether it’s purchased or not. “Prince’s only aim is to get music direct to those that want to hear it,” his spokesman said when announcing that The Mail would include the CD. (After the newspaper giveaway was announced, Columbia Records’ corporate parent, Sony Music, chose not to release “Planet Earth” for retail sale in Britain.) Other musicians may think that their best chance at a livelihood is locking away their music — impossible as that is in the digital era — and demanding that fans buy everything they want to hear. But Prince is confident that his listeners will support him, if not through CD sales then at shows or through other deals.
This is how most pop stars operate now: as brand-name corporations taking in revenue streams from publishing, touring, merchandising, advertising, ringtones, fashion, satellite radio gigs or whatever else their advisers can come up with. Rare indeed are holdouts like Bruce Springsteen who simply perform and record. The usual rationale is that hearing a U2 song in an iPod commercial or seeing Shakira’s face on a cellphone billboard will get listeners interested in the albums that these artists release every few years after much painstaking effort.
But Prince is different. His way of working has nothing to do with scarcity. In the studio — he has his own recording complex, Paisley Park near Minneapolis — he is a torrent of new songs, while older, unreleased ones fill the archive he calls the Vault. Prince apparently has to hold himself back to release only one album a year. He’s equally indefatigable in concert. On the road he regularly follows full-tilt shows — singing, playing, dancing, sweating — with jam sessions that stretch into the night. It doesn’t hurt that at 49 he can still act like a sex symbol and that his stage shows are unpredictable."
Prince knows that good stuff comes back around. Lars Ulrich, the drummer for Metallica? Not so much. He freaked out and took Napster to court for ripping off their music and fans reacted strongly to it--- not buying the CD's, not going to concerts. For years they didn't do so well.
The popularity contest concept wins out again... now??? They're giving away CD's with concert ticket sales. Could he have come to the same conclusion through a misstep? I bet he did.
Alyson's B. Stanfield's other writings on the subject is included below. (Please see her website, you won't believe the wisdom it contains!)
Warhol and copyright infringement? LOL
"DO THIS: CONSIDER IT A COMPLIMENT Most artists are eager to protect the copyright of their images online--and rightly so. The ease with which one can swipe photos and graphics from the Internet is enough to scare the daylights out of anyone working in the visual arts or communications.
Judy Vars, Snow Angel. Oil. ©The Artist
http://www.cabinfeverinalaska.com However, a couple of things should ease your mind:
►There are SO many digital images around, the likelihood of yours being the target of widespread image theft is minimal.
►If your image is relatively small and posted at no higher than 72 screen resolution, anyone wanting to print it would get a copy of very low quality.
Instead, I implore you to protect your images with a copyright notice and, when they are downloaded, consider it a compliment. Gasp . . . yikes! Did I really just say that? You bet.
You could waste many precious hours worrying about people stealing your images, but isn't the point of your promotions and marketing efforts to get them in front of people? You'll scare yourself into a point of inaction if you dwell on all of the "What ifs".
Protect yourself as best you can by:
1. Making your images are no sharper than a 72 resolution -- small enough to load quickly, but large enough to show the detail in your work.
2. Posting a copyright notice on all of your pages. If it makes you feel better, post a © under each one of your photographs, as I have done for the artists featured in this online version of the newsletter.
3. Giving your files an obscure name. Web guru Pat Velte suggested that if you name your files with the actual title (e.g. Naming "Rocky Mountain Sunset" rocky-mountain-sunset.jpg), they are more likely to be indexed by a search engine like Google and, therefore, more likely to be downloaded. Something like 01Gf32.jpg would be safer. Likewise, she says, you can decrease your chance for inclusion in search engines by leaving the alternate text field blank. Then, as we talked about it further, we thought, "WHY?" Why would an artist want to have images on the Web and then try to hide them from search engines?!
Jacqueline Myers-Cho, The Space Between Us. Mixed
mediums, 12 x 16". ©The Artist
http://www.myerscho.com If you want to know what the alternate text function looks like, go to http://www.artbizcoach.com/about and mouse over the painting at the bottom. It doesn't work in all browsers, but Internet Explorer users should see "Kurt Christian, 'Dumb Campers'." By the way, Pat specializes in helping artists get on the World Wide Web. You can email her at pvelte@cox.net.
4. Remembering why you have images online in the first place. For heavens sake, please do not print a watermark or other text on top of your images. You might as well not even have a Web presence as this completely ruins the experience of your art.
5. Keeping track of your Web statistics. Once you learn how to find and track your usage statistics, you'll see which pages are being viewed and the rate at which they're being viewed. Any abnormalities, such as a large increase in image downloads, will be easier to notice.
6. Making sure people know how to contact you if they want to use your images. Wouldn't it be great for people to use pictures of your art in their publications and Web sites? Just think: They'll give you credit for it and provide a link to your site. Make it easy for them by including your contact information on each page. You can even go so far as to include the following text with your images: "Please contact me if you're interested in using my images on your Web site or in your publication." This serves notice that you're open to the possibilities.
KNOW THIS The Internet is for the sharing of information. While you must protect yourself as best you can from copyright infringements, you can't waste too much time worrying about it. Too much protection will defeat the purpose of having a Web site. THINK ABOUT THIS Why are you online in the first place? DO THIS Stop worrying about someone stealing your images from the Web and consider it a compliment when they do. If you use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, you can forward this page to a friend by going up to your menu and, under "File," select "Send" or "Send Page." Or just copy and paste this URL into a message: http://www.artbizcoach.com/dothis "
Oh wow, we've been so busy that no blogging has been happening for a while~ but this topic is important to artists and all people. What comes back to bite the business person in the butt? A stingy, stiff, lazy or unfriendly attitude. Thats not all, but seems to be the major
The benefits of sharing... so much to name!
Festivals are like days or people, no two are ever the same. We've been at the Peter Anderson Festival and have, so far, had a good time. At most of the festivals, we will put out a table in the "flow" of people traffic and set up face painting. Our face painting profits come from donations only and those go to the Gulf Coast Women's Center for Nonviolence.
This time, John Rhodes, the vice president of the Biloxi Art Association, is going to allow us to face paint off to the side under a shelter :) GO JOHN RHODES, thank you so much. The spirit of giving and acceptance is a beautiful thing to see.
We ran into a potter and his wife who give workshops to children about their ceramics and after telling him about Art with Heart, he was on board for offering his knowledge and outreach to the kids. Wow, they seemed moved by the spirit of Art and creativity to further the goodness they've recieved. The feeling and connection was evident in the looks on their faces and the passion in their voices. What soul! It was contagious and I left feeling full.
Ah, but I had been rejected in a few places and had my feelings hurt by another brand of artists. Commercialized and guarded- bordering on, and sometimes personifying, paranoia. Ego too big and art marketing education too little.
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a sharing person. When most kids got into trouble for not wanting to share their toys, I got into trouble for allowing other kids to "use up" my stuff. "Then you won't have any anymore" Mom warned me.
I didn't grow up rich by any stretch of the imagination and we had to scrap together the things to make other things (which has helped my creativity out in ways an enriched environment wouldn't have), so the characteristic wasn't created because I had much to spare. Seeing other people experience joy has always given joy.
But not everyone is like this~ and some are very, very much NOT like this :) So, Denise Williams, Mom (Carol Roberts) and I are running around talking to people-- appreciate the art, immerse ourselves in beauty and innovation, inhale the wonderfulness, and invite local artists--- but--- we run into a bummer.
The bummer was someone from our area whom I was delighted to see and meet. But what a let down! I didn't really admire her art, but I respect it because it has value to someone else, so, I offered her a free space on AwH website and she declined because she has a website- (guess she's never heard of Alyson B. Stanfield's "Magnifying your online presence").
I don't agree with this artist, but I respect her position.
Ok, not quite "getting it" yet, I then offered a link from my website to hers (as I always do to others who have their websites going). I'd have loved to give her a link from my website-- in effect directing traffic to her art because I can't paint for the whole world. This is networking and according to Art Marketing genius, Alyson B. Stanfield, this is the way to go- share and share alike because the biggest and best asset you have is your people and your admirers.
So afraid she was that I would somehow steal something of hers or "elevate myself" with the use of her name that she went into a story about making this local Bed and Breakfast take down one of her images on their site. Geesh. I was just offering a link. Besides that, she shouldn't have flattered herself. I don't steal ideas or credit.
But about the B&B, I thought, "Darn girl, there went some potential costumers, commissions and at least some admirers. I bet you ticked off those people and they took your art out of their bed and breakfast, too. You'd been better off sending them a thank you card and gushing at their appreciation of your art because it was a genuine compliment. Besides the sales you could have made, you hurt those people's feelings and I bet they flat out don't like you anymore." That makes two of us.
She missed out on a great opportunity- make a new friend and fan. People are the most important thing about your art! They are the reason for your art, no matter if you're an intellectual only after profits or an emotional/spiritual (like me) whose more interested in the connectedness it brings. Karma comes back no matter how you roll.
But this artist really lost a fan and a potential advocate. Even before this, my artistic opinion was- which normally I'd keep to myself-- that her work is marketable kitsch, local regurgitation of bad Norman Rockwells without people. But the disposition makes the art look worse now.
We walk around and ran into the awesome potters... (I'll put their names in later, I forget names, sorry-- gotta find my book), who was so wonderful!!! These people are da bomb. When I can afford it, I'm going to get some of their pottery.
So, we walk a bit further down and Denise exclaims "Linda, there you are! That is YOU, honey, right there!"
I stopped dead in my tracks.
It was a breathtaking piece of wall-sculpture pottery and I fell in love with it. It was one of my paintings in sculpture form!
I walk up to it and start to think about Jungian Archtypes and how that worked within the theory of universal conciousness and I admired the artist's way of putting this at the heart of their art. The message was exquisitely captured. This artist ROCKS.
I did the same spill~ and after being refused a second time- I'd had it, so I told him point blank: "I do my own art and I don't need yours." He proceeded to explain that it may not be me that copies them, but other people do. (I'm thinking that would be a compliment to me, but I get it.)
Too late. He hurt my feelins... DOOMP-DOOMP-DOOMP- Another one bites the dust! He lost a sale and three admirers- Mom and Denise were peeved and took off, too. Denise had a few other words for him on her way out, too.
I don't think I'm being unfairly judging here. I realize they've probably been burned in some manner before, I'm sure that is quite the case and there is much more here than meets the eye. However, to even look jaded into a paranoid and stingy ogre has cost them not one sale, but what that person could have brought.
Moral of the story is: I'm in the majority, people don't like rigidness and hurt feelings--- and one person represents much more than a single entity.
It looks about like a Verizon wireless commercial... They are representative of their families, friends and may have other assets yet unseen-- I am the multitude of my address book and readers of this blog.
Thing is, the tighter you grasp your art- the less you let your art breathe air, the suffocation keeps people away.
Sometimes art business IS a popularity contest. Can ya hear me now?
