Art is Expression, Commerce is Separate

I can't shake these 2023 survey stats:

• 86% said arts and culture improved their community's quality of life

• 79% attended an artistic or cultural event in the past year

• 48% said they actively create: painting, making music, writing, crafting

Despite this, creative people still struggle to earn a living from their work:

• 85% of artists earn less than $25,000 a year (source)

• 13% of artists earn a full-time living from their practice (source)

86% of Americans benefit, so first off, who are those 14% and tell me they're not even on Netflix or something, but sure, AND 85% earning $0-$24,999 I see and feel your frustration with this creator-consumer gap.

It's brutal. But here's what it really means for creators.

Look at that math again: 79% consume, 48% create, only 13% earn full-time. This isn't even Pareto - it's more extreme. You're not competing against half the population. You're competing against the tiny fraction actually committed enough to try making money from their art.

Most of us creators want to be in that earning group (and it'd be a dream to be in that 13%), but we can't all be there. The thing is, you don't need to be. That 79% who attended cultural events? They're hungry for what you might make. That massive audience appetite with relatively few serious creators serving it? You have to see it as opportunity hiding in plain sight or else it’ll crush your creative spirit.

The only thing to do is understand who your peers are, who your audience is, and if you want to do what it takes to push the business of your art that far.

But here's what I remember and feel compelled to remind you of now that those stats are rattling around in your head too: Art is expression. And, commercial viability has nothing to do with the quality of human expression. They are detached, and that's a good thing. As a creator, it changes who you are competing with and why.

There's an old marketing expression it reminds me of: "If you want to sell more bibles, create more Christians." The beliefs and the book sales are related, but the motivations are all very, very different.

Those survey stats are wild to see. However, as a creative person, while I'm sad how few people make a living off of making art, I'm thrilled at the opportunity we all have to be makers, even if it's in the shadow of another job, career, or (gag) hustle. If we don't have to make global scale religions, we can make micro scale differences, and I like that idea a lot.

h/t Yancey Strickler, I previously wrote and linked it all in this essay if you want a deeper dive here