Digital art is valueless. Creating is valuable.

As soon as a track is uploaded, an image posted or writing converted to internet vapor it loses all value. Why would anyone pay for anything free and easy to get?

If you are literate you could become a writer. If you have a phone you can become a photographer or even a multimedia artist. Anybody can publish. Anybody with a computer and an internet connection that is. That’s still a lot of people.

So artists have a problem: Getting noticed.

There is an infinite supply of art and a limitless supply of creators. Your friend the artist is just one of them.

That is today’s reality.

No mater how many DRM’s are invented. No matter what kind of pay-walls go up. There is still an infinite supply of free art — sometimes it is “liberated” and sometimes it is born free.

Artists must think like a dandelion. We put our work into the wind and hope it takes root in fertile ground. Any nook, any cranny, anywhere is good. In fact, our success depends on these little cracks where our work flourishes even if it’s just for a moment.

Every time our work takes hold, develops a following or is published we can put a line in our résumés. It gets us one step closer to our goal.

The value of our art isn’t in the money we get from each piece — invariably it’s nothing. But each piece, each share, each “like” builds our curriculum. That’s the socially networked world.

The value of our work is in creating it. It is in the fact only we can create our own art. No matter how much the work is copied there can only be one source: Us. That is the value of the digital artist.

So we toot our own horn. We show off our latest piece. We add to the cacophony that is creation. In doing that we find ourselves asking for your support.

We release each piece with as much fanfare as possible. We hope you will read it, like it and share it. You are the most important part of our work. Without you there’d be nobody to share it with.

We are grateful to anyone who shares what we do. We love you.

So, how do you support your friend the artist?

Share our work. You are the wind.

Author: Richard May

Editor: Renée Picard

Photo: Richard May