Online Content
Musician Billy Bragg had an Op-Ed in the New York Times on Saturday on the issue of artists who post their work for free on sites like myspace which makes millions from the traffic it brings:
When I started out freelancing I was willing to work with papers that had little to no revenue just to get illustration pieces in my portfolio and someone printing my work. The whole idea was that this would lead to better clients who could pay. And that happened.
But online even the top dogs won't shell out a few dollars a week for a cartoon. There are 90-some staff cartoonists in America right now, with a few being laid off every year. There used to be 2,000 in the early 20th century. When the lucky ones make it to retirement, it's a good bet most papers won't replace them. I'd be willing to bet I live to see the day you can count the number of staffers on your hands.
Jen Sorensen and Ted Rall have both done comics recently on the subject of providing free content, while Get Fuzzy comments on the state of the comics page.
Cartoonists face a similar problem. As print publications slash content, radically downsize and ultimately cease publishing, we look for websites that want to pay for content. Sadly, they barely exist. But not due to lack of funds. Vampire capitalists like Ariana Huffington are raking it in with their highly trafficked websites that pay nothing to their contributors. The only form of compensation you get for being on the site is "exposure." ( I should note that I'm writing this on the same day that I announce my new ACLU strip--a paying gig, so I shouldn't be so glum. But these outlets are drying up fast for mosts artists).The musicians who posted their work on Bebo.com are no different from investors in a start-up enterprise. Their investment is the content provided for free while the site has no liquid assets. Now that the business has reaped huge benefits, surely they deserve a dividend.
What’s at stake here is more than just the morality of the market. The huge social networking sites that seek to use music as free content are as much to blame for the malaise currently affecting the industry as the music lover who downloads songs for free. Both the corporations and the kids, it seems, want the use of our music without having to pay for it.
When I started out freelancing I was willing to work with papers that had little to no revenue just to get illustration pieces in my portfolio and someone printing my work. The whole idea was that this would lead to better clients who could pay. And that happened.
But online even the top dogs won't shell out a few dollars a week for a cartoon. There are 90-some staff cartoonists in America right now, with a few being laid off every year. There used to be 2,000 in the early 20th century. When the lucky ones make it to retirement, it's a good bet most papers won't replace them. I'd be willing to bet I live to see the day you can count the number of staffers on your hands.
Jen Sorensen and Ted Rall have both done comics recently on the subject of providing free content, while Get Fuzzy comments on the state of the comics page.
posted by Matt Bors at
10:44 PM
3 Comments:
http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/icst/icst-6/icst-6-full.html
I think this cartoonist has an excellent plan for you guys...
I know that I would gladly pay a little bit every month to read your stuff. Being a college student, I wish I had enough to shell out and buy your books and everyone else's books, but I can't.
The assumption Bragg makes is that Bebo et al actually make money. That is incorrect.
Yes, a few sites HAVE been bought out for a great deal of money. But that is not because they are MAKING money. That is simply not true. The reason these sites are getting bought out, which you should pay strict attention to, is to gain attention for some other endeavor that WILL make money. Google, king of cashing in on the web, has acknowledged that they have made no money from their social networking efforts. But they believe social networking, like free email (also a money-loser) is necessary to keep the focus on their brand, and the efforts of theirs that do bring in cash.
The economics of the online business is not what you (and Bragg) seem to think. The economic of the paper-based newspaper business IS pretty much what you think - it's dying.
Nevertheless, the world is coming online.Ad dollars are coming online as well. There are businesses flourishing in the online space, and there is money coming online. You are, however, being distracted by headlines and missing the real picture.
That is to say: There is a crying need for these businesses coming online to gain attention. Coupled with this is the need for compelling content.
How did newspapers make money, when they made money? Just like TV - they sold advertising. Why did people pay to advertise? Because other people would watch it. Why did people watch ads? Because of compelling content surrounding them.
That is they key for you. The newspaper business model is dead. Social networks are not making money. But, money IS coming online.
I understand your depression over the lack of cartoonists who can eke out a living via newspapers today. But I do not know that this is not actually an opportunity, if you can free yourself from the old payment model and build a new one. 2,000 creators to 90? Is that a result of a diminsihed appetite for the product, or simply a diminished ability to pay for the product?
Mind you, people who used to read cartoons may now be playing a Ze Frank game, or reading blogs, or doing something else entirely. But it still boils down to compelling content. The desire for that is undiminished. And advertisers are till willing to pay for something that will draw attention to their ad. That also is unchanged.
What may have to change is how a cartoonist approaches his business. What that entails I cannot say for sure, but I can guess. Experimentation, and a willingness to study successful business online models (such as blogs that have burst through the attention barrier).
You may wind up selling something that is not a conventional comic strip. Comic strips, after all, were made necessary by an old, dying media. It makes sense that the essence of the cartoon might remain, but the strip format might die.
Micropayments probably do not work. Many have tried them, but there's too much free content around. The big newspapers coming online have just about given up on the payment model. Sponsorship, and direct product sales, seem to be the key. And of course, it should go without saying that the content should be compelling.
Just some thoughts. Good luck.
matt: yeah, Scott McCloud was a big proponent of micropayments but that didn't seem to catch on.
Thanks for the support--all my old books are sold out, but I plan on publishing a real, professionally printed, collection of my best work later this year.
mister snitch: THanks for the comments. The reason staff cartoonists have dwindled so much isn't the entirely the fault of the internet. TV, radio, etc. all cut into newspapers. Syndicates made a staffer less of a necessity. Now with falling revenues it's getting harder to justify.
I don't think the print decline will turn around (although at some point it will level out) I just wish someone could figure out some sort of all encompassing payment method for the web.
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