Doing Things Differently

Marketing art in a changing world is a challenge.

Recently I’ve been listening to, ‘Flip’ , an audio book by Peter Sheahan, which deals with the rapid changes occurring in all industries, often propelled by new technology. He talks about the superstars of modern business having ‘ an ability to ‘flip’, to think counter intuitively and then act boldly, with little regard for business as usual conventions.

The music distribution industry is an example he cites where the landscape has been changed radically with the advent of the internet, the ipod and down loadable music files.

A case in point. I discovered one musician doing things differently as I looked for royalty free music to use with my art instruction DVDs. Josh Woodward is a singer-songwriter based in Findlay, Ohio in the USA. Josh releases his music freely on the Internet and he allows you to decide how much you will pay for his music. His last album, soon to be released, was funded using Kickstarter. Using this internet based funding platform for creative projects, he not only raised money to cover the cost of reproducing his CDs, he presold many of them before the albums release.

Josh is obviously talented. But talent alone doesn't guarantee an audience or success. He is not waiting to be discovered. As well as developing his considerable skills as a musician and songwriter, he is taking full advantage of developing technologies to present his music to the world and is getting it into the market place in new and different ways.

His example of creativity and self reliance is both encouraging and inspiring.

I'm keen to explore self reliance and innovation in marketing within the changing art industry. More about this in future blogs. Meanwhile I’d love to hear your ideas on different, new or innovative ways to market art, or promote yourself as an artist.