These days, the days of streaming TV shows and films and music, of ebooks, of endless scrolling on your social media platform of choice – it seems like there is very little in the way of tangible goods anymore (when it comes to the arts – there are still box stores full of…stuff). Which, when you grew up in the 80s and 90s, when you had to transition from records to cassettes to CDs to MP3s… it’s strange to realize how little of our content (that we’ve paid for) that we actually own anymore, that we can actually hold in our hands.
And as someone who grew up in the 80s, I do prefer to be able to hold the things that I own. Strange, I know.
But even more important than that, I also want to make sure that as much of the money that I’m spending on the…thing – book, record, whatever – gets into the hands of the person who was responsible for creating it. And that is getting increasingly more difficult. For many reasons. Not just that we are living in a digital world. Not just that the shifts to digital also have shifted profits from the artists’ hands to those that produce them or to the platforms that stream them. (Not to mention AI.) We also have a stagnant minimum wage and increasing inflation. A lot of people don’t have the disposable income to spend on things we currently call a luxury (because we have short memories and forget how it was the arts we turned to to save us during the pandemic).
I realize this can sound self-serving – I’m a writer who wants to sell books. But I’m not saying buy my book here. (Though, if you feel so inclined…) I’m saying if you can, if there is a musician that you like whose music you stream often (which gets them pennies, if they are lucky), maybe consider outright buying an album. If there is someone whose visual art you enjoy, instead of taking another screenshot, perhaps consider buying their art on something (it doesn’t have to be an original or anything big – even buying a print on a card can help them). Like an author but don’t have the means to buy a new copy? Check it out of the library. (If your library doesn’t carry it, request it.) Every little bit helps.
Even more simple things you can do that don’t cost anything but could potentially get them royalties down the line – follow them on social media and help to spread the word:
Ami Maxine 