"Many highly creative people stop sharing, because why would they? Overt shilling and pandering to algos is corrosive to the creative soul. I have seen many an artist friend who made incredible work just stop at some point, and at least one reason why is clear: the world provided insufficient signal for them to keep going. "
Nicely said. I think there's an inherent exhaustion that comes with the pace at which you have to create to find engagement. Hollywood has its deadlines and problems, but one ethos that it seems to embrace is that the work is done when the work of a great artist is done, bundled up, and ready to be consumed. The vision and team effort that we see on a project is complete when we see it. Online, however, it's so binary: The slog is constant in order to be seen by the inconsistent distribution algorithms. Or, it's nothing at all. The result is those industrialized processes and outputs, as you mentioned.
24/7 creator brain is exhausting. The best work needs space, silence, and time to absorb and reflect. The algorithims and platforms, however, will never incentivize that because that means less attention to create ad inventory. Without it, we get mush content slop—junk food for the algorithm—until a creator earns true fandom and the freedom to take breaks.
These are good points. Creativity is fine. Even within the mainstream. We should be increasingly aware we inhabit the world we choose. The platform defaults are tweaked to monetize my screen.
Yes it's precisely why things like removing hyperlinks is so frustrating, you're making it that much harder to incentivize creation of something that is already blood from a rock. Hyperlinks being at algo parity with everything else would measurably improve the world for artists, at the very least give them a slightly larger scrap of attention to potentially survive upon.
I'm not as down on the state of art. Kickstarter has given a independent comic artists an opportunity to publish a wide variety of ambitious projects that never would be covered by mainstream publishers. In HipHop, Kendrick Lamar and Doechii have both had hit songs that were ambitious and took things in new directions. In fact, the blurring of the lines between hip-hop and country music is one of the most interesting things to happen in a while!
It is harder than ever to build a large audience, but easier to build a small audience. I'm not sure which is better. In Michaelangelo's time there was not a market for many artists, and those that existed didn't get to choose their subjects. Was that better?
I say no, we're lucky to have the opportunity to sample a wider variety of creative work. But you are right that it takes effort to find it. I'm not sure that will ever change.
I'm glad other people are more optimistic, hold onto that! And yes there are some cool platforms helping creators make a living. I am frustrated if only bc I continually find *so much* cool obscure work (and take time to share it because how can you not, even if I don't reach many people) and it's all in such stark contrast to what people with actual distribution choose to share.
I'm not as pessimistic, and as proof, I offer you this very platform, which has a lot of good writing on it as a mass of people fight to break through the current mess you were just describing. Will they? Some have. Some won't. But they're fighting.
"Many highly creative people stop sharing, because why would they? Overt shilling and pandering to algos is corrosive to the creative soul. I have seen many an artist friend who made incredible work just stop at some point, and at least one reason why is clear: the world provided insufficient signal for them to keep going. "
Nicely said. I think there's an inherent exhaustion that comes with the pace at which you have to create to find engagement. Hollywood has its deadlines and problems, but one ethos that it seems to embrace is that the work is done when the work of a great artist is done, bundled up, and ready to be consumed. The vision and team effort that we see on a project is complete when we see it. Online, however, it's so binary: The slog is constant in order to be seen by the inconsistent distribution algorithms. Or, it's nothing at all. The result is those industrialized processes and outputs, as you mentioned.
24/7 creator brain is exhausting. The best work needs space, silence, and time to absorb and reflect. The algorithims and platforms, however, will never incentivize that because that means less attention to create ad inventory. Without it, we get mush content slop—junk food for the algorithm—until a creator earns true fandom and the freedom to take breaks.
There is much intelligent art going on, but hidden away from the mainstream. I think of...
* The 20 or so writers that I follow, who post their deep thought on sites like SubStack
* The independent music scene that is exposed on YouTube, as well as performs locally
* The art world that exhibits in local halls and on Instagram
All this would not be possible without the Internet, both as the source of these arts and doing the marketing of them.
These are good points. Creativity is fine. Even within the mainstream. We should be increasingly aware we inhabit the world we choose. The platform defaults are tweaked to monetize my screen.
Yes it's precisely why things like removing hyperlinks is so frustrating, you're making it that much harder to incentivize creation of something that is already blood from a rock. Hyperlinks being at algo parity with everything else would measurably improve the world for artists, at the very least give them a slightly larger scrap of attention to potentially survive upon.
I'm not as down on the state of art. Kickstarter has given a independent comic artists an opportunity to publish a wide variety of ambitious projects that never would be covered by mainstream publishers. In HipHop, Kendrick Lamar and Doechii have both had hit songs that were ambitious and took things in new directions. In fact, the blurring of the lines between hip-hop and country music is one of the most interesting things to happen in a while!
It is harder than ever to build a large audience, but easier to build a small audience. I'm not sure which is better. In Michaelangelo's time there was not a market for many artists, and those that existed didn't get to choose their subjects. Was that better?
I say no, we're lucky to have the opportunity to sample a wider variety of creative work. But you are right that it takes effort to find it. I'm not sure that will ever change.
I'm glad other people are more optimistic, hold onto that! And yes there are some cool platforms helping creators make a living. I am frustrated if only bc I continually find *so much* cool obscure work (and take time to share it because how can you not, even if I don't reach many people) and it's all in such stark contrast to what people with actual distribution choose to share.
I'm not as pessimistic, and as proof, I offer you this very platform, which has a lot of good writing on it as a mass of people fight to break through the current mess you were just describing. Will they? Some have. Some won't. But they're fighting.