[sciencejerk]

Do we really want the entire world to be endlessly full of cookie-licking rent seekers who demand profit every time anyone does anything? Because they failed to capture the value they created, and thus demand a piece of the pie from those who are better at capturing value?

The starving artists I know would be extremely happy to get even one cookie to lick. I know an artist prodogy that paints on canvas and has work in a sizable gallery, at least one institution patron, and is constantly hosting paid workshop events. He architected and built his own custom 40ft ceiling pine art house covered in beautful stained wood and arches, with large metal cuttings and engravings of wild horses on the railings. This artistic prodigy is still starving and works as a handyman/construction worker part-time. He is strongly opposed to AI, by the way.

Most artists are "starving artists"; there are extremely few artists that can support themselves by their creations alone. Many artists make no money at all, and many artists seem to work or create alone as individuals, meaning that they almost always lack the funds or community resources to protect their creative work.

[csallen]

To the extent that you care about deriving money from your art, you aren't just an artist, you're a business. And that's fine. I love businesses and the people who start them.

But, sadly, art isn't an easy business. There is a tremendous supply of art, and not enough demand for it. In other words, it's very competitive.

So, just like every other competitive industry on earth, if you're going to be in the art business, then simply making a good product/service isn't enough. You have to think about marketing and sales and differentiation and distribution and strategy and the whole big picture.

There are plenty of starving artists who make incredible art that nobody pays for, just like there are plenty of starving startup founders who build well-coded apps that nobody pays for.