Cryptoart

Thinks out loud via /epr, forms ideas via paragraph.xyz/@epr , previously /secondrealm, asks questions in /cryptoart, & talks crypto on pods.media/rising-tide

the following thoughts are based on what have observed since i started minting works in the fall of 2018 .

ideally an artist should not have to use social media at all unless they were intrinsically motivated to do so .

have seen some artists do almost no social media and sell well just by minting their work on the platform . my best  guess is that many collectors are not interested in social media and will simply scan through the platforms feeds .

i think the platforms could do just a bit more on their end . have seen this work . a platform could easily cue up 4 or 5 casts a day of completely random selections of art from their platform and do a world of good with that .

i do realise that the platforms already have their plates full in terms of what needs to be managed so my suggestion might not be realistic . although my proposal seems like something that could be an experiment . since all of this is experimental there's no reason it's not a route that could be tested .

a very though-provoking comment by @ilannnnnnnnkatin for this week's Cryptoart Question of the Week. one comment that caught my attention was:

"ideally an artists should not have to use social media at all unless they were intrinsically motivated"

admittedly, i had a visceral reaction to this that swung wildly from "that's crazy" to "hmmm that makes sense." i guess i can see both sides to this.

what do you think? 

#CAQOTW

artist . _ NFT OG . since 2018 . SR 👉🏼 http://bit.ly/3IxeSkw . legend .

thank you for the quote . what made you think it was crazy and then what brought you around to thinking otherwise ?

i was coming from the perspective of social media as part of the marketing for artists. where marketing is necessary if you want to sell you art. but just because someone doesn't usual social media, doesn't mean they aren't using other channels to market. which was the realization i had. social media isn't the only way to market. there's word-of-mouth, network/connections, agents, platforms, etc. that can all help an artist sell. social is just another one of those channels.

i was coming from the perspective of social media as part of the marketing for artists. where marketing is necessary if you want to sell you art. but just because someone doesn't usual social media, doesn't mean they aren't using other channels to market. which was the realization i had. social media isn't the only way to market. there's word-of-mouth, network/connections, agents, platforms, etc. that can all help an artist sell. social is just another one of those channels.

https://paragraph.xyz/@epr/marketing-isnt-evil


marketing is not evil . it's just a tool . it can be used for what might perceived as evil ends . but that's a different topic .

i need to emphasise the use of my word 'intrinsic' . what i mean by this is that one should not have to feel coerced into promoting their works in ways that don't feel right to them . 

many of the artist i associate with do what they do because they feel compelled to do so without any extrinsic pressure . and they want to share their work and be validated for their contributions . the monetary is  secondary to them . i would not call this 'pure' but 'honest' .

granted some people have a knack for promoting their work and take a lot of pleasure in doing that . personally enjoy sharing my work . but i don't like to feel pressure in doing so . my motivation drops to zero when this is the case . this drop is clinically proven .

marketing is not evil . it's just a tool . it can be used for what might perceived as evil ends . but that's a different topic .

i need to emphasise the use of my word 'intrinsic' . what i mean by this is that one should not have to feel coerced into promoting their works in ways that don't feel right to them . 

many of the artist i associate with do what they do because they feel compelled to do so without any extrinsic pressure . and they want to share their work and be validated for their contributions . the monetary is  secondary to them . i would not call this 'pure' but 'honest' .

granted some people have a knack for promoting their work and take a lot of pleasure in doing that . personally enjoy sharing my work . but i don't like to feel pressure in doing so . my motivation drops to zero when this is the case . this drop is clinically proven .

https://hbr.org/2013/04/does-money-really-affect-motiv

i agree . i think the label of 'marketing' and its connotations tends to put a lot of artists off because what they are sharing is something vital within themselves that is a story . their story . i don't think anyone really wants to be a product unless they are truly confident of this .

i agree with the @y0b point that everyone is different in how they approach these things .

for example the art i tend to gravitate towards and collect speaks to me without any words . i never need to read a description or require a justification for it . its value is self evident to me . mind you i have never collected a punk or any of the big names . but i have collected a lot of works by @uncertaingaze.eth , @zala , @santiago-ruau and @omoplato because their work fits an indescribable criteria that i am drawn to .

yeah; i hear you on the motivation part. when it starts to feel like THE job as opposed to part of the experience. 

it's worth noting that i also view promotion/promoting as a sub category of marketing. 

where i view marketing as a broader set of activities (blogging, sharing your story, controlling your narrative, events you go to, where you sell your art, collector experience, etc). marketing is more holistic in nature than just social media promotion. 

i don't like promotion, but i do believe everything we do is a form of marketing. even when we think we're not trying to sell something intentionally. a story is being told to those who are looking at us. 

Invisible Gardener. Regen practices. Degen research. Building StatelessDAO open source co-ops. Pixeloodles & Degenomemetics:  https://zora.co/@invisiblegardener

interesting point . raises questions for me :
- what motivates collectors to collect art ?
- what motivates platforms to sell art ?
- how can these motivations of artist / platforms / collectors be reconciled ?

The article highlights the fact that each person is different in their underlying motivations:

"different people value money for different reasons (e.g., as a means to power, freedom, security, or love). If companies want to motivate their workforce, they need to understand what their employees really value"