More #truth I don’t think I’ve even heard more than three Taylor Swift songs, but the idea that artists are “insulting” or “greedy” for asking people to pay a relatively modest amount of money for their art is pervasive in today’s culture. People make these same claims about indie authors, bands that can’t afford a tour, and struggling illustrators. I’ve seen people proclaim that midlist novelists who can’t even make a living off their books are “greedy” and “evil” for asking more than 99 cents for an ebook. I’ve seen readers who admitted to pirating every single A Song of Ice and Fire book say that George R. R. Martin “owes them” a quicker publication date and that he should essentially give up all his hobbies and other projects until he finishes his next book. (Neil Gaiman had a nice rebuttal to this mindset on his blog.) It is bizarre enough to think that an artist “owes” you something when you’ve paid them nothing, but the entire idea of “mean” artists who are taking advantage of their fans is especially bizarre in a time when artists give more of themselves to fans than ever before. Look at Taylor Swift. She is famous for constantly interacting with her fans on social media—and, I feel the need to stress again, much of her music is free or dirt cheap on YouTube and non-Spotify streaming services. Artists today already provide tons of content for free—mixtape downloads, short stories on websites, illustrations on Tumblr—that it is only the most extreme fan entitlement that could resent them for taking a small portion of that and asking a few bucks for it. electricliterature/taylor-swift-and-the-myth-of-the-mean-greedy-artist
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 06:04:39 +0000
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