7 Comments

You bring up some excellent points. I've seen other artists, especially beginners, fall into the trap of doing their art for free. I'm no exception.

This has given me a lot to think about.

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Thanks for this, man. Great approach

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This is such a "see behind the curtain" post and i love it - and this "The balancing variable of this equation is that it places the responsibility of me to create dope-ass posts that interest people enough that they desire to pay for my older content."

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I delayed a long time to set it up on my podcast. As always, I worried what people would think of me. Will free subscriptions slow down? Do I now look like a money-grabbing bastard? None of those things have happened.

It’s still making me feel a little guilty sometimes though. I don’t know why.

Thanks for the reminder.

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I can only think of two types of people who get offended by artists charging money: frustrated underground / punk artists who are against capitalism itself, and STEM chads who believe being an artist is wasteful and information wants to be free (and yet engorge themselves on an almost constant supply of big budget media). Neither of them are likely audience for your work.

Everyone else understands "This is a reader supported publication, please consider a paid subscription so I can feed my cats."

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I'm glad I dove into comments so that I could stumble upon this gem: "...STEM chads who believe being an artist is wasteful and information wants to be free (and yet engorge themselves on an almost constant supply of big budget media)."

Hear, hear.

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I think the world is changing around me too, and I never really appreciated it because I don't personally partake.

Lots of people subscribe to Patreons, Twitch streamers, substackers etc. The model is becoming popular now to support your favourite artists directly, without a dirty big organisation or label in between. Even stuff like Bandcamp has been doing this for years.

We need to be shouting this from the rooftops

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