On Artists’ Rights and Value -Online and Offline
February 5, 2008I have a writer friend who’s very wary of the internet. He feels that the internet is robbing great articles -and good writers -of their real value to the world. That’s why when he submits an article to an offline publication, he tries to persuade the editor not to make it available on the online version of the publication. If it’s made available online, he demands that he get paid for that as well.
The same thing must be true for all creative people everywhere. The moment any of their songs, photos, stories, drawings and visions arrive on the internet, people treat them like public property. Songs, photos, stories, drawings and visions that took time, energy and sometimes a lot of money to produce. And what do they get in return? They’re lucky if they even get as much as a request to grant permission for usage of their work (or a simple credit that proves authorship of the work).
That said, I’d like to give props and credit and an (I’m-now-stabbing-my-face-with-papercuts) apology to At Maculangan who shot the album cover of my EP "Katakataka" as well to the rest of the art community here in Manila whom I’ve been given the honor to have worked with at one time or another but whom I’ve failed to give the proper dues (monetary or otherwise) they deserve for their artistry (because I’m lacking those dues myself, he he). God knows we should all band together and unionize so that we can all acquire the leverage to cut better deals for ourselves. Or at least give each other the moral support whenever we’re feeling too diyahe to ask people (our friends, even) to value our work more, monetary AND otherwise.
Enlisting the services of artist-friends for the "friendship rate" (presyong kaibigan) is sooo Filipino! It’s time we changed that to this equation:
World class artistry = friendship rate PLUS standard industry rate!
This way, artists will have a better incentive to give you their best work, not because of the money, but because you value them enough to give them good money! It’s the valuing and not the money that artists want to get from you.
But what if you value them but…..don’t have the money?
Well…the "IOU" or pay later system often works. Barter doesn’t work (at least for me) because value systems are different from artist to artist . It doesn’t make sense, for example, to offer to arrange original music in exchange for a consultancy service. The first service used up a lot of time and electricity while the second one merely used up time. It can’t be music for music for me because even two artists from the same field use a different set of standards. It can be, however, music for a paid 2-day vacation or a couple of dinner meals in a good resto.
Artistry should be our currency to gain entrance to the good life, not to a museum of beautiful clutter (which is what artists tend to offer to their fellow artists).
I’m sorry for all the beautiful clutter, people.
Will clean it up!
