I’ve gotta say it’s gratifying to encounter someone who is seeing the online world of ‘content creation’ and its consequences in a similar way to what I do without giving in to either despair or mere impotent complaining.
‘social media is treating every artist (well, everyone) like they’re a corporate brand and assuming all sides are motivated purely by financial means. And while money is certainly a motivating factor when creating art, it’s important to recognize that it’s never the only motivating factor.’
Maybe it’s because I can remember the pre-internet times (I’m 35) but it’s disturbing to me how much this solely financial/transactional view of creativity has taken hold. ‘Selling out’ is an alien concept or ethical standard to hold now.
Thanks for the kind words, I worried the point I wanted to make with this one was too nuanced to be received (Kind of ironic now that I think about it!) but I'm glad to see I was wrong.
Flickr v Instagram is a good example of what worries me. Flickr used to be the de-facto photo sharing site, but it's "mistake" was prioritizing the values of the photographers (artists), vs Instagram which primarily caters to base-level monkeybrain consumption urges. The problem, imo, is not that flickr went away (it didn't), but that it's no longer the foremost option for an emerging creative person looking to "see what's out there".
I do feel those of us old enough to remember the "before times" have an obligation to keep the flame alive, and I really don't think any finance-first art spaces can truly survive forever, no matter how big. Without a soul there's nothing left to sell. Hopefully one day artists can retake the wheels of the big internet art spaces.
This is it. In a nutshell. These algorithm driven things sew the seeds of their own destruction. It’s a mechanism that kills the goose that lays the golden eggs.
You have a platform that draws in ‘content creators’ (hate that term ofc, but it’s the correct one for my purposes here) and it is briefly great. But then the creators conform to what the algo wants and in time the creators don’t create anything fresh and the new cohort just ape the old because that’s supposedly what works. I mean look at the absolute state of the yt homepage now. Clickbait headlines, Mr Beast open mouth face in the thumbnail etc bc that’s what gets the click. Few willing to risk going against that out of either principle or a desire to be innovative.
At least in the mainstream. But there are more and more small scale groups and collectives (I run one) who seem to ‘get it’.
I have hope.
Keep up the great work here, mate. I think it’s turning on lightbulbs from people who are drifting here from r/nosurf
Great point about YouTube. There was a recent video by Veritasium (called "Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective") where he breaks down how effective misleading thumbnails really are... and then ends by saying he's still going to do it because it gets him more clicks. I left with such a bad taste in my mouth because if the large, financially independent content creators don't have any will to change, it's unreasonable to expect the platform to.
It's easy to imagine an emerging film creator seeing the YT homepage and thinking "Dang I love making movies, but if this is what success looks like, I don't want to pursue a career in that world."
Exactly. I have some sympathy (and I mean a little ) with artists using such tactics in the beginning but once you’ve got that audience you’ve got to transcend this and try and actually push what your art (whether it be writing, music, film etc) can be in this digital context. Otherwise what’s the point. If it’s money you might as well use the internet for pure business, and if it’s fame and attention without craft you might as well just become an insta influencer or something.
Gotta say, man, it’s great talking to someone outside of my own private group who is on the same page with all of this and is willing to call it out.
I’ve gotta say it’s gratifying to encounter someone who is seeing the online world of ‘content creation’ and its consequences in a similar way to what I do without giving in to either despair or mere impotent complaining.
‘social media is treating every artist (well, everyone) like they’re a corporate brand and assuming all sides are motivated purely by financial means. And while money is certainly a motivating factor when creating art, it’s important to recognize that it’s never the only motivating factor.’
Maybe it’s because I can remember the pre-internet times (I’m 35) but it’s disturbing to me how much this solely financial/transactional view of creativity has taken hold. ‘Selling out’ is an alien concept or ethical standard to hold now.
Cheers, Justin. Great piece as always.
Thanks for the kind words, I worried the point I wanted to make with this one was too nuanced to be received (Kind of ironic now that I think about it!) but I'm glad to see I was wrong.
Flickr v Instagram is a good example of what worries me. Flickr used to be the de-facto photo sharing site, but it's "mistake" was prioritizing the values of the photographers (artists), vs Instagram which primarily caters to base-level monkeybrain consumption urges. The problem, imo, is not that flickr went away (it didn't), but that it's no longer the foremost option for an emerging creative person looking to "see what's out there".
I do feel those of us old enough to remember the "before times" have an obligation to keep the flame alive, and I really don't think any finance-first art spaces can truly survive forever, no matter how big. Without a soul there's nothing left to sell. Hopefully one day artists can retake the wheels of the big internet art spaces.
‘Without a soul there’s nothing to sell’
This is it. In a nutshell. These algorithm driven things sew the seeds of their own destruction. It’s a mechanism that kills the goose that lays the golden eggs.
You have a platform that draws in ‘content creators’ (hate that term ofc, but it’s the correct one for my purposes here) and it is briefly great. But then the creators conform to what the algo wants and in time the creators don’t create anything fresh and the new cohort just ape the old because that’s supposedly what works. I mean look at the absolute state of the yt homepage now. Clickbait headlines, Mr Beast open mouth face in the thumbnail etc bc that’s what gets the click. Few willing to risk going against that out of either principle or a desire to be innovative.
At least in the mainstream. But there are more and more small scale groups and collectives (I run one) who seem to ‘get it’.
I have hope.
Keep up the great work here, mate. I think it’s turning on lightbulbs from people who are drifting here from r/nosurf
Great point about YouTube. There was a recent video by Veritasium (called "Clickbait is Unreasonably Effective") where he breaks down how effective misleading thumbnails really are... and then ends by saying he's still going to do it because it gets him more clicks. I left with such a bad taste in my mouth because if the large, financially independent content creators don't have any will to change, it's unreasonable to expect the platform to.
It's easy to imagine an emerging film creator seeing the YT homepage and thinking "Dang I love making movies, but if this is what success looks like, I don't want to pursue a career in that world."
Exactly. I have some sympathy (and I mean a little ) with artists using such tactics in the beginning but once you’ve got that audience you’ve got to transcend this and try and actually push what your art (whether it be writing, music, film etc) can be in this digital context. Otherwise what’s the point. If it’s money you might as well use the internet for pure business, and if it’s fame and attention without craft you might as well just become an insta influencer or something.
Gotta say, man, it’s great talking to someone outside of my own private group who is on the same page with all of this and is willing to call it out.
"Everything Everywhere All At Once" made ~$100 million at the box office.