[NetBehaviour] Selling digital art

[Rob Myers]

On 01/11/15 03:23 PM, Antonio Roberts wrote:
> 
> My motivation behind this decision was my belief that the value of an
> artwork should not be based on scarcity.

+1

> If I had used expensive
> materials or if making multiples was labour intensive then I could see
> more justification in raising the price and producing less. However,
> in my case they were relatively inexpensive digital prints and so
> making multiples was less of a problem.

Treat it as tipping or patronage in return for a touch of the artist's aura?

> This presents a problem if I want to make more money from things like prints.

You can always do prints with those nicer materials (archival paper/inks
etc.) and charge more for those.

Or you can sign prints or provide certificates of authenticity -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/http_gallery/22348355411/

There are several startups that do blockchain-based editions of digital
works. ascribe for example:

https://www.ascribe.io/

(I've met some of the people from ascribe but don't have any involvement
with the project. Other services are available etc.)

that takes the prints out of the equation altogether. :-)

> Crowdfunding (patreon, kickstarter etc) has been suggested in the past
> but that is more about supporting the artist, not about making money
> directly from the artwork itself.

You could crowdfund the edition and have the prints as backer rewards at
various levels.

Crowdfunding works best with things that are events with a narrative
people can get involved with, so you'd probably need to do annual or
biannual crowdfunding events for projects or (groups of) editions.

You could also sell shares in a work/project/edition in return for e.g.
sponsorship mentions at shows (like at the end of a crowdfunded movie or
book).

- Rob.