The Points of the Creative Artists’ Code: Sixteen - Help each other
May 2, 2008
NDK considers how Creative Artists can work together to help each other and one of the attitudes that sometimes hinders our advance.
A Creative Artist may not yet have a name, so what? That doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she have no talent or that you could not learn something from working with them or helping them. If the material is good, that says enough, chances are the name you already have, tied to theirs will help you both achieve new heights.
During the course of endeavoring to establish my own career, I have met many people who have achieved varying degrees of fame and success and I have observed their attitudes and behavior towards both myself and others and there is all too often a certain “elitist” attitude, a certain hubris that is adopted by a few that simply doesn’t belong in the industry that joins together in so many fundamental ways.
It harms those who adopt that attitude, and it embarrasses those around them and with whom they come into contact. There is no point in being envious or jealous of talent, we need to create, establish and support the notions of elegance, grace and glamor without losing the perspective of being grounded in the reality of the public who support us.
The industry of art & entertainment is an industry that creates illusions and it creates illusions around illusion, and this is important to remember and keep in perspective so that you do not lose your own grip on reality.
The opportunity to nurture new talent, to be a part of boosting their careers is a privilege not a right. It is a privilege granted out of respect for knowledge, skill and accomplishment and it is founded on great trust that must at all costs be preserved.
The experience we have and learn is hard won and it is precious knowledge that can be of tremendous benefit to others if we but have the good nature and generosity of spirit to share the wealth and the connections that make career possible. Passing on your own legacy to others who can benefit it from it, is a great way to round up a career, but throughout a career it is a way to enhance the lives of others with almost immediate results.
The Age of Independent Creative Artists
There can never truly be an age of independent artists because the fact of the matter is we need a support team of businessmen and women, and audience, to help us run the many aspects of a complex business.
Independence is an Illusion
Then too, independence is an illusion because every business relationship you create, when successful, leads to an inter-dependence and steady, strong growth that enables and empowers all parties for mutual benefit. The only thing you need to be sure of then is that the relationship does not become exploitative, but preserves the spirit that created it.
It is, however, the degree of control business people will exercise that will be far different than has been the case until now. They will no longer be our masters. They may be our employees or our limited partners, but positions of control over our work and business?
No, they have blown that through the immoral exploitative practices that have been in evidence since the Seventies (and earlier). Ripping off the public, and the artists at every opportunity, but nowhere with more disastrous effect than in the last 40 years, which has by increment and degree whittled away at the soul and spirit of man.
As the industry collapses, implodes on, and then reinvents itself, we’re going to experience artists banding together even more than we have before.
At that point, and we are at that point. the need to pull together to bring about an effective change of paradigm becomes vital. However, what I predict we will see, is a wider fragmentation, a variety of models, and for those artists who are already at the top of the heap, an opportunity to consolidate their gains, while ensuring the future of an industry that humanity needs now more than ever. Most are not even contemplating that at the moment.
But we’re not shy of the traditional model yet. Despite record losses in the last decade, they still have money and clout, and their own lobby organizations which they are utilizing as I write to bring to bear upon the duperpower in a last ditch effort to maintain their monopoly by embracing the internet with an art taxation model. Governments are always in favor of taxes, and you don’t have to “read my lips” to know that.
It will probably be an easy battle for the major music labels to win, and then the major motion picture studios will do what they always do, “In a suite business, follow Suit.” The only way to maintain independence at that point will be to avoid the major labels and studios and strengthen the independent networks.
New Models
However, this cannot be achieved by utilizing the same models that have been used. The world has changed and is changing in a huge way, the greening of the world in response to global warming and catastrophic climate change itself is starting to have a huge effect on the way we live and we are not yet fully apprised of that effect though those of us who have grandchildren are surely going becoming increasingly aware of the legacy the next generations are inheriting as a result of 200 years of planetary abuse.
I do like to call a spade a pitchfork when it is appropriate to do so. Sometimes plain-speaking should cut through the crap we like to delude ourselves with.
For our industry economies of scale are at this point in time going to be, ironically enough, a saving grace providing this is activated in a positive way for independent industry production. Some fiercely independent souls are going to balk at the idea of concentrating systems for efficiency, and they are just going to have to get over it and learn to trust again.
Those words flow too easily, but there is no other way to say it than how it is, “…get over it and learn to trust again.”
Industry Marketing Muscle
There’s a lot of talk about needing “industry marketing muscle” to reach large audiences, but that idea doesn’t really hold any water. The industry never turns up with a contract unless artists have already developed an audience. Why is that?
It’s because they know the artists have proven their model, and at that point, they want to tap into that model, take it over, and milk it for all it is worth, at whose expense?
Consider the notion that if you’re working with the traditional model of the industry and they are not paying you, or doing the job you expect, then you’re better off employing your talents collectively to help each other, and though that too may not pay immediately, gradually you’ll sort that out and build a solid foundation and audience. As quality product and service delivery occurs and the audience builds, then earnings will follow. By continuing to work together you’ll be able to create an enviable economy of scale.
A few anticipating the GRQS (Get Rich Quick Scheme) mythology that abounds - like honey left out for fly bait - will attach like a leech and endeavor to suck the lifeblood and energy from you. But GRQS doesn’t work. There are no short cuts, there is just doing your best and persisting. Crafting logical plans and persisting. Read every sound career success story and that is what you will discover.
As you set about developing an independent model you’ll also discover that many have an inflated sense of their own worth and value, but cannot follow the simplest and most explicit instructions, and thus the value they assign to their work is consumed by others who must correct what they produce, time-and-again. Honest mistakes are one thing, saying you know something and have read instructions when the work itself demonstrates you have obviously not is quite another.
That Big Word Again
Help must be real help. Which means it must be effective. Help must demonstrate a commitment to long-term goals and be consistent. Careers do not happen overnight, the most important groundwork is laid at the beginning, and when that groundwork is abandoned, left incomplete, or in states of partial completion then it saps the energy from motivation.
The higher level concept stuff is fun, but it’s the grunt work that gets things done, and it’s the grunt work that results in achievement.
If there’s anything the artist must learn in order to become a Creative Artist it’s that particular myth-buster.
The lofty goal of passive income - income generated while you sit back and do nothing - is still a myth. The work that creates passive income is a massive expenditure of effort in a multitude of areas that results in gradual attainment of the lofty goal through resource and system development. And once that system is in place, one has to maintain it and keep products and services flowing through it.
But through such processes of trial-and-error one will discover who has the attitude that can and does forward the objectives and will determine as well, those who cannot. Those who cannot are and will remain an anonymous legion.
As you contemplate the idea of developing and marketing your own work, consider also that the very talents we must gather, learn and use to market our work are the very talents big business uses to sell products nobody wants at prices only a few can really afford.
Developing revenue-sharing models and understanding the value of our rights is the most important information to have and keep current. Unfortunately, because there are so many “starving artists” it is easy for the current society to manipulate the situation to their advantage and the artists’ continued disadvantage.
There’s really only one way to break that situation and achieve an honest industry we can trust. Help each other. Use our talents in communication to promote each other in an ethical way, and develop trust, not mistrust.
What we do with our gifts to promote the things and systems that destroy civilization we can use to advance civilization in saner ways and to the greater benefit of people.
Since the beginning of the industrial age, the arts have been marginalized unless they created for those who sought control. This has brought the world into an inevitable position and designed its fate, towards which it has rushed, just as if it were a horde of lemmings with blinkers on, because it did have blinkers on and is in fact still wearing them. Read widely, and you will discover that our world is in such a position, and that the seeds of collapse are back where the industrial age first advanced the notion of progress without concern for morality, scruple, or any responsibility other than the amassing of money and power through plunder and pillage and rape of whatever resource could be discovered. It is such a short-sighted philosophy and practice that it beggars belief in the superiority of human intellect.
In every sector today, you see these philosophies having run their natural and utterly predictable course. That we as humanity elected to follow such a course, is the part of the predicament we should really be looking at, digging into and understanding. The “experts” who supported such policies and who no doubt benefited from them are not so expert now. Be smart and look beyond them to those who did not buy into these ideas, there you will find the moral, the principled and the implacably determined and relentless. These are ready to serve, and most likely already do.
Help, Integrity and Commitment
We have to make our words mean something by actually doing the things that they represent. And as we set about doing those things that generate substance from idea and utterance we have to realize that just because the expectation does not match the reality, that we must nonetheless persist, trusting in the good intentions that have resulted in tangible achievement if not immediate financial reward.
The need to live notwithstanding, those who seek immediate financial reward, are there for the wrong reasons. This is a hard lesson to learn for all concerned.
Branding
There is another aspect to this particular idea of helping each other and that is that as people get to know who you are and what you do and are capable of that they develop a sense of what you like, and how you think. This can become, in time, a recommendation and a conveyance of taste, where what you endorse becomes a recommendation to others. It’s a very fine position to be in. Don’t abuse it.
Caveat
One needs to remain incredibly honest in what you are promoting and forwarding, and have a sincere liking of and passion for that work, or your recommendation will not work.
I work with artists because I like who they are, what they are doing and seeking to achieve, and because I have ascertained that their ideas and values are something I support. I would never promote something artistic that I don’t like, or believe has merit as an idea.
What you recommend, what you like, what you endorse becomes part of what the public recognizes as your brand. So be careful about who and what you tie yourself to and for what purpose. But do not shy from risk fueled by the observance of an infectious passion. When it comes down to it, it is passion that ignites the fire and fans the flames that drive the winds of hope, change and renewal.
Forging pArtnerships
Creative, business and collaborative partnerships can be extremely fruitful in many ways. Such partnerships however, need to be formed honestly, they need to be based on factual knowledge and a full appreciation of the situation. The knowledge needs to have some common ground and shared principle.
There is only one way to find out if these things are going to work. Jump in with your eyes wide open. However, if things don’t quite seem how you think they should be the best place to start is with a few polite and gentle questions, keeping judgment in check until you understand what is happening and can make informed decisions rather than assumptions based on little more than a rush-to-judgment.
When you’re working in the communications business, one of the things you really need to monitor is interpersonal communication. There are people who come in challenge and cop an attitude that is unworkable. These often think they know best, or better what is going on. More often then not, they don’t. They assume positions greater than any status they have yet to earn. They ask questions that are not intended to provide anything more than ammunition so they can justify an aggressive stance, and they always have a different, often hidden, agenda. Just because a person asks a question, does not mean they actually want to know the answers. Sometimes their questions are just smokescreens for attacks, and you’ll soon discover which it is when time for meaningful answers is not granted, or when sincere answers are met with the chop and cut of a tongue that is apparently more closely related to a cleaver than humanity.
Help wears a humble habit that treads firmly with grace upon the soul.
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