Busking in Cyberland - Feed the Artist

[wyld_dandelyon]

Or, in the words of Pink Floyd - and Motley Crue - "Is Anybody Out There?"

Singing for your supper is a common theme in fantasy stories about bards; it might be cliché, but for anyone trying to make a living, or even to supplement one, on their creative endeavors, it is literally true. It’s not as simple to get cash from your paypal account to buy groceries as it is to sing and then sit down at the table and have the innkeeper bring your already-cooked food, but it’s the same principle.

But the cash is symbolic of more than just one’s daily bread. It is a tangible way that an audience lets someone know that their life’s work--the current performance, the carefully-crafted song, the story that they labored over, the hours spent on a painting or recording--was enjoyed. That your hard work, both in the moment and the years that led up to that moment, was appreciated.

One of the joys of live busking is that you get feedback. You see children’s eyes follow you as their parents walk by, you see people’s expressions change as they listen, and their feet tap in time to--you. You see the people who could have taken this train, or that one, but who lean against a wall or sit on a bench to listen to a few songs before continuing their day. Sometimes you even get applause. Other times you simply see that someone who arrived looking stressed and upset is smiling as they get on their train. (Of course, you also get people who think folk music is deadly boring, but hey, not even Mozart or Elvis could please everyone.)

And all of it, all of the positive feedback, subtle and overt, cash or applause or just a smile—all of the feedback feeds the artist’s soul.

Cyberland is different. You put out your work and then wait. It’s hard to tell if people are even reading your words. They could be smiling, even laughing out loud, or reading your story aloud to a friend or child, but unless they take a moment to leave a comment, the artist will never know it.

As readers, the feedback loop--there’s that feed word again! Once the artist posts their work, oh reader, the feedback loop is in your hands. In this economy, many people can’t afford cash. But other things feed the artist too. Your smiles, your laughs, your questions, your referrals to friends, all these things are welcome.

If you enjoy “free” fiction, or poetry, or music, or any artistic endeavor online, whether it’s my work or someone else’s, please take a moment, open that comment box, and let your fingers do the tapping. Even a single word lets the artist know they are not, in essence, singing on an empty El platform, with only the echo of their own voice to keep them company.

 
Copyright 2009 Deirdre M. Murphy

Busking in Cyberland is the continuing musings of the artist on her experiences with crowdfunding. 

 

You can find the other entries here.

 

Comments

[miintikwa.livejournal.com]

*applauds* Thank you for this. :)

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[flutterbychild.livejournal.com]

Most definitely!

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Good to see you here!

[jolantru.livejournal.com]

Ditto, ditto, ditto. :)

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

ditto gives you purple fingers...

Of course, I like purple!

[cetriya.livejournal.com]

Givin how people are a selfish bunch, they dont have the time to even comment but get upset if your stuff is not good or you missed an update.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I don't think people understand the power that the web gives readers to support and inspire the projects that they love. Especially when the economy is bad, and people like me don't have a day job.

It makes a person willing to try new things, and very willing to put time and effort into projects that are bringing in any money at all.

I love your icon, by the way!

[cetriya.livejournal.com]

thanks :)

I dont think the readers understand the power they hold when it comes to the internet, unless its a scandal, its really hard to get people to spend 2 mins to comment because they had little to invest to get to the content. Its kind of like how many people take education for granted, untill they reach collage not being free or learn that education is not a free thing for everyone in the world.

its then that they appreciate knowledge, cause they had to work to get it.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Ah, well I figure at least a few will get a clue along the way, and the smart ones will tell their friends.

I'm hoping so, anyway!

[trecomics.livejournal.com]

Well put. :) Passing this around if it's ok!

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Certainly! Thank you.

I have a landing post for my fiction, so people can read it in order, rather than scroll through my journal trying to find all the pieces; I'm now thinking I need to have one for the Busking in Cyberspace entries as well.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I just posted what I want, yesterday. It works reasonably well: a fair number of people do my #1 desire, of commenting in my journal. And I get a trickle of money and art, too, which is a happiness.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

How did I miss that post! Thanks for linking to it.

[lvictoriaart.livejournal.com]

smiles big. Very well put, thank you for posting this!

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[eaglemaina.livejournal.com]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts! It was very well put! =)

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

You're welcome and thank you.

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

I've often taken pictures and thought I liked them, or took pictures for "me" that I wouldn't show people because that kind of thing had never been well received.

Then Teh Interwebz came along. I started putting my photos over at Webshots to share with family and friends I left in the US when I moved to NZ. I'd get some feedback occassionally, but again wouldn't usually put those "special" photos up that I really liked.

I joined LJ, started making virtual friends, started linking them to photos. People started commenting. I put up some of my "special" photos and found that some people liked them! They didn't think I was strange or weird for taking them, didn't get bored with them.

Their comments, heck just knowing someone might look at them, has inspired me to try to continuously improve and to keep taking pictures. I think it's the same for writers and other artists. You need that feedback to know that you aren't alone, that someone else does appreciate it.

And maybe one day both of us will be able to make decent money and survive off our creative endeavours.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Yes! Very much yes--it's a great dream to be able to make money from our creative endeavors, but it's vital to find an audience, people who listen, who appreciate what we do.

And yet, it's hard to put your best out there, knowing people may not like it. I'm so glad you started posting your special photos. (-:

The need for an audience--a community--is why I don't plan to stop writing Fireborn even though I'm not getting anywhere near professional rates for the writing, though I may go to a slower publishing schedule if more sponsors don't appear. I know that I'm not the only one reading it. And that matters a lot.

And I really like the interactive potential of the net, that it doesn't just have to be me, the solitary hermit, whose voice eventually is heard out there in the world--but something more organic, more like being a verbal storyteller, telling a story in the moment, to people who are listening and reacting, whose reactions are just as vital a part of my experience as a storyteller as my words are to theirs as readers.

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

One of the bonuses of the net for someone like yourself, involved in the spoken/written arts, is that it recreates the ancient fire that we all hudled around at night as we listened to the old bards. As each person huddles over their computer screen and reads the words the stories reverbrate. I don't see tvs going away but I don't see the written word dying either. Internet audiences provide a different kind of feedback than live ones, and sometimes it can be hard to break that glass barrier and reach them, or encourage them to reach you.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

What a great image. Although it reminds me of the scene in one of the terminator movies where you see the back of a TV set, with kids watching it intently, and then as the characters move, you realize the TV set is being used as a fireplace, too.

I've sung songs and told stories around campfires, with drum circles in the not-very-far distance.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

How do you see the net as being different for someone doing visual arts, and someone doing verbal arts?

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

It takes me awhile but I get back around to it....

I think I was imaginging ancient bards and story tellers, it was easier to travel to potential audiences and ply their wares. Visual artists could also travel but it was more difficult trying to carry supplies and wares, keep them safe from theives and store them without being broken/ruined. If you think waaaaaayyyy back, ancient story tellers could talk around a camp fire but it was kind of hard to lug that cave paiting you just did around (until they started tanning hides).

In some ways now I think visual and verbal arts are about on even footing. Both can be put out to the consumer/audience as readily as the other. Both are equally susceptible to being stolen. And both can readily inspire someone else.

My 2 cents. Or 10 cents here, NZ doesn't have pennies or nickles anymore!

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Well, that depends on the type of art. Woodcarvers just carved wherever they went, for instance. Painters would carry tools, rather than finished works.

Music and storytelling are good because you can carry the "finished work" in your head, to perform again and again.

Storytelling is probably the most different; here I tell a story once and people all around the world can read it. Storytelling in person lets you tailor the story to the readers--to the local dialect, or the age level of the listeners, for instance.

[red-trillium.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about woodcarving (don't ask me why!) & yeah, I could see painters carrying the tools and not the whole canvas.

But yes, retelling stories and singing you don't give your art away the same way you do a painting or jewlery box. Then again, you could change and remake them easier than anything tangible so your art continues to grow.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Yes!

Painters also painted on site, as in "on-the-site". Murals, or gesso, for instance (Gesso is painting while the plaster is still wet. You can do cool bas-relief stuff that way, and the paint colors further into the plaster too, making the paint harder to rub off the wall, because it is part of the wall.) (At least I think I have the word right; I'm tired enough for my dyslexia to kick in.) And if you go back far enough, painters mixed their own pigments in oil, so they didn't even need to carry a lot of paint around.

[flutterbychild.livejournal.com]

You're referring to fresco, not gesso. Gesso is used to prep canvas or wood or other surfaces for painting with oils or acrylics.

[flutterbychild.livejournal.com]

May I repost this to therebirthofme?

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

Certainly! Just link back here. (-:

I'm glad you enjoyed it!