Art vs Commerce (debate)

Benefits of Commerce for artists: 

How art has been able to thrive due to the existence of commerce:

It is impossible to discuss commerce in modern times without placing it in the context of the Industrial Revolution. As industry began to flourish, technology provided artists with the tools to pursue their chosen craft with ease and opened up artistic appreciation of all forms to a wider audience. From the radios and televisions that have brought music and entertainment directly into homes around the world for the past 130 years, to the mass production of instruments and the ability for each individual to explore new methods of expressing their own creativity. As certain technologies become more widely available, we can see that art and music can be explored by more people. Industry continues to provide more and more access to creative technologies, which has led to a whole new exploration of creative endeavours. From early crooners like Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole, who were made possible by the invention of the electric microphone that could pick up the soft bass tone of their voices, to electronic artists who rely heavily on commerce to source new samples to incorporate into their music,

The evolution of art and music is directly linked to the results of commerce, bringing different cultures together through trade and services between nations and provinces. Economic downturns often see a migration of people across the globe in such large numbers that they take their art and culture with them, creating a melting pot of ideas and inspiration that results in new genres and styles being developed in their wake.

With the closing of the red-light district of Storyville in the 1920s, a great migration of workers moved from New Orleans to Chicago, taking blues and jazz with them. The exposure of blues and jazz to big city life gave rise to the new genres of city blues and swing jazz, the latter of which became the soundtrack for the next two generations in America.

As technology improved and jazz evolved into bebop and beyond, rock and roll offered a new wave of music for American teenagers to embrace. This music found its way to Britain, particularly through the ports of Liverpool, as the American army provided rations to the British. The liberating aspects of this new sound resonated strongly with the youth there, providing a much-needed escape from the war-torn environment they had become accustomed to.

With Elvis's Heartbreak Hotel being played over and over on their phonograph, four Liverpool lads got together in a bomb shelter and formed what would become known as The Beatles. The impact The Beatles had on music and youth culture around the world has left a legacy that can be seen to this day, all of which would not be possible without the existence of commerce.

Many artists rely on commerce to find like-minded people to practice their craft with. For example, in May 1981, an unknown drummer named Lars Ulrich placed an ad in the local "The Recycler" looking for other musicians to jam with. He listed a short list of influences, including Diamond Head (as mentioned above, the ability to discover new artists and influences is also a way facilitated by the existence of commerce). This ad caught the attention of a guitarist and bassist who had previously played together in a band called Phantom Lord. The guitarist was James Hetfield. They began as a cover band, playing music by bands they both admired (again, facilitated by commerce), and would go on to form the biggest band in the history of heavy metal: Metallica.

In an interesting side note, commerce also plays a part in how Metallica got their name. Ulrich had a friend, Ron Quintana, who was brainstorming names for a fanzine he wanted to start. MetalMania and Metallica were among the names he had in mind. Ulrich urged his friend to go with MetalMania, and unbeknownst to Quintana, Ulrich made this covert move in an effort to keep the name Metallica for himself and his new band, which officially formed in October 1981. Ulrich is also known as a spokesman for the artist's copyright when he fought Napster in the late 90s for providing an online platform where users could share music files they didn't own and illegally download music. Commerce has given artists the ability to protect their creative property by creating publishing deals within the music industry. Unfortunately, because access to an artist's work is more readily available through unmonitored online platforms, consumers tend to exploit the artist more than when commercial ethics play a greater role in the distribution of goods. It is clear that an artist benefits more financially from being able to operate within a commercial medium than from allowing consumers free access to their work. Bands can no longer operate as mere recording artists to fund their musical endeavours, they have to become "travelling T-shirt salesmen".

This trend to facilitate networks between artists has only grown within the modern age with many platforms on social media etc that enable like-minded artists the ability to collaborate artistically.

Social media is directly funded by the underlying workings of commerce with the injection of advertising within certain platforms like Facebook. This is another avenue an artist can choose to explore in an effort to market their product directly to consumers at a grassroots level.

With artists having to subsidise their creative passion by needing a primary income that is sustainable within the current industry model that only recognises economic worth of any occupation, finding sound marketing strategies are imperative for an artist to achieve sustainability in their creative pursuits. Often artists are left jaded and grow weary of the arts industry if they are unable to break the market on a grand scale.

So in conclusion, and as unfortunate as it may seem, artists must embrace the system of commerce in order for their passion to survive. Commerce provides artists to explore their art to its fullest in the creative sense, but artists must also be willing to navigate within the system to market their product effectively in order to continue to thrive beyond having their art simply exist as a secondary source of their time and effort in life. It's a harsh dichotomy but one that must be accepted and thus utilised in all its potential and drawbacks.