Mike LittleAug 12, 2024
tiny_m

I think one of the saddest things about the internet/instagram side hustle culture/late stage capitalism is that its convinced everyone they're supposed to be making money from their art and if they're not they are somehow a failure.

Creative expression is something you're just allowed to have, to do, to make yourself feel something, you can share it with other people if you want but it's only purpose is to exist

if you want to make money from your skills then fine but don't let it crush you

Aug 12, 2024 at 8:36amWeb
Show threadWandering StarAug 12, 2024
@tiny_m That's very true. OTOH, a day job can crush you to. I'm trying to find a way to get my passions to pay for themselves and support a dignified life. The alternatives are not pleasing.
Show threadtiny_mAug 12, 2024
@pawsplay yeah I guess I really want young people to live in a society where their value and worth isn't dependent on how much they earn. Obviously everyone needs to pay for rent and food and if you don't have good opportunities then poverty is grim in many ways. I want people to enjoy their own creativity for free outside of those problems. Obviously if you can earn money from your passion then great, but that's not why it has value in your life
Show threadJoanna HolmanAug 12, 2024
@tiny_m and on top of that it's also lied to people about how viable making a decent sum of money from your art online is. Sure you can get an online storefront up and running easier than ever but it's a very, very crowded marketplace for most things.
Show threadtiny_mAug 12, 2024
@joannaholman yeah I hadn't really considered until just now that this is their whole business model. Convince everyone to monetise their hobbies and then you have a permanent revenue stream forever. It's like death and taxes, art is always going to exist, and then on top of that AI can come along scrape everything you made for free and then you don't even need to pay the humans feeding the machine any more. Dark times.
Show threadCarlos SolísAug 12, 2024
@tiny_m And in a related point, the current "intellectual property culture" heavily relies on monetizing art as content. Most of the people I see opposed to #copyleft are such because their subsistence relies on paying the bills with their art, which is understandable depending on the circumstances but unfortunate nonetheless.
Show threadIan FordAug 12, 2024
@tiny_m I'm trying to figure out when it all became about money instead of awesome experiences and doing cool things. I hate it.
Show threadtiny_mAug 12, 2024
@ianfford as someone else pointed out to me the likes of Etsy successfully advertised the fact it was easy to make a shop which implies an easily accessible global marketplace, coupled with the possibility of viral marketing. I would put money on that being when it started. Also as Warhol pointed out everyone wants their 15 minutes so I guess this really isn't anything new but it does me sad to see young people taking it as an indication of their success as a human being
Show threadDavid S (inactive)Aug 13, 2024
@tiny_m see also: YouTubering
Show threadDJDarrenAug 20, 2024

LB: What was worse for me when I had my podcast, was that I could never actually reach any listeners on Twitter and Facebook. Their algorithms made it basically impossible to be heard through the noise.

So I’d spend hours crafting these beautiful little calm spaces, all the while getting more and more anxious at the time I was wasting on it because no one else actually heard them.

I never really expected to make money from it, but it would have been nice to have been heard.

Show threadDJDarrenAug 20, 2024
Though I do sometimes ponder bringing it back, now I’ve discovered Mastodon and the far, far better engagement I get on here.
Show threadArtem SapeginNov 20, 2024
@tiny_m I think the overall focus of educational resources on latest gear isn't helping here — the gear is expensive, and so it seems natural that you need to make money with your art. I've been fighting this urge for many years and for multiple hobbies (photography, leather craft...)