Artists United writings have been produced for the purpose of educating people on problems within the arts and with global aesthetics — and to inspire action. At the base of select writings, we have provided a link to our Calls To Action page, where we have detailed the action we feel will be most effective in resolving the issue.

Writing #1
The Crisis of The Digitizable Arts

Part 1

Crisis Within, Crisis Between

For decades now, the vast majority of artists whose work can be digitized, have — by their own hand — vanished.  Though art starts with them, most artists have disappeared from any meaningful discussion about their own present and future; disappeared from any meaningful discussion as to how their art is acquired, accessed and used by the public.  And in their absence a spokesman has stepped in to speak for them: The Average.  And what The Average has said in their place — and continues to say — is this: "I the artist will work without protest to provide you, my audience, a never ending supply of art at no cost."

Today, the voice of The Average serves as the voice of the artist worldwide.  For we artists whose work can be digitized and downloaded through the internet, it is now considered completely normal that we be indefensible; that our life's work be stolen from us in seconds and rebranded as "sharing"; that we accept whatever more-than-nothing option offered to us by tech companies as an alternative to absolutely nothing dictated to us by The Average; that we tour ceaselessly like a shark that can't stop swimming or it'll die; and that our art have no value in and of itself other than as bait for ads, data harvesting, or some other good or service that can't be stolen.  It is a system of force masquerading as a system of choice, and it is now considered completely — unquestionably — normal.

But we artists have, in large part, brought this upon ourselves.  There is a saying that you teach others how to treat you.  If you show others that you respect yourself, you will be respected — or you maximize your chances of such.  If you stand silently by while you are abused, you will be abused — and you will be so until you protest.  For many years now, essentially all of us have taught our audience and the world at large that we do not respect ourselves.  We have taught the world, in our silent acceptance of abuse, that we desire absolutely no say in how we are treated — that we don't exist.

Only one artist of global recognition declared his existence in a meaningful way at the onset of the crisis.  Only one artist declared — publicly and directly to his audience — that those stealing his music are wrong, that their behaviour does not qualify them as fans, and they do not have his respect.  His name is Lars Ulrich, a songwriter and drummer for the band Metallica.  Rather than support Lars and tell their audience the same however, his fellow artists remained silent.  Without support, Lars was singled out as a greedy extremist, his albums were burned in protest, and his voice — a voice in defence of basic morality — was quickly lost in the noise of the average person's self deception; in their virtually unchallenged belief that taking an artist's work and offering nothing in return is just.  

This was a pivotal point.  The world's music audience, and the audience of all the arts, were waiting to hear what the artist — the only party they truly cared about — had to say on the matter.  “How do they feel about us stealing their creations?  Do they still respect us?”.  Their audience waited.  But the artists of the time said nothing.  And as the years passed in silence, the monetary value of the artist's work fell and fell until it matched the volume of their voice and was too valued at nothing.  It now didn't matter how many years they spent training, or how many dollars they and their partners invested in their art.  It didn't matter that they needed money simply to live.  When finally presented with the option to pay ninety-nine cents for a song that would last forever — less than the price of a cup of coffee that lasts fifteen minutes — the majority of those who proudly proclaimed themselves "fans" and "lovers of art", said "No".

There are many ways one can characterize the damage caused by artists remaining silent; the damage caused by refusing to address The Average directly in their immorality.  However, it is most accurate, most core to the matter, to say that what the artist did was eviscerate themselves; render themselves — and their relationship with their audience — without depth. 

As human beings, we express our depth in three primary ways: in Goodness, in Truth and in Beauty.  Our Goodness is our morality: how we treat one another.  Our Truth is our science: our reason and logic.  And our Beauty is our art: our personal expression, taste and aesthetics.  When combined — when each of these values is expressed fully and in alignment with the others — we are whole.  

For many years now there has been a great disparity in the arts.  Rather than answer the Beauty of the artist with Goodness and Truth of the same depth, The Average has answered with shallowness.  Instead of paying for their art as most artists wish, they've stolen it, and in doing so have divided themselves.  The artist, in failing to defend depth, and in stealing art themselves in many cases, has too grown disparate.  And so, today, rather than two deep beings united, we have two shallow beings — divided within and between — pretending to be one.  

Please click here to download this essay as a PDF. Once on the download page, click the three dots along the right margin to complete the process.

Take Action: please click here to see Call To Action #1, the call to action associated with this essay.

Part 2

Crisis of Consciousness

The final part of this piece, which details the macro expression of the crisis, is still in progress.  However, we believe it is in the best interest of all that we publish Part 1, for its subject matter, the dividing of the artist and fan — within and between — is the the core of the crisis, and it is here that reparations must be made if the crisis is to be resolved.  If the majority of artists and fans cannot — or will not — look at themselves and make good as Part 1 asks, it is doubtful that the reading of Part 2, if it is to be read at all, will effect their worldview substantially.  The publishing of Part 1, however, allows us to begin what we believe is a far overdue dialogue on the crisis of the arts.

If you would like to be notified of the completion of this piece, please sign the mailing list and we will be in touch.  Otherwise, revisit this page periodically. 

Writing #2
The Dark Patron

The very words "dream" and "success" are — to many — synonymous with the words "rockstar" and "moviestar".  As a result many believe, in failing to reach rockstar and moviestar status themselves, either directly or in some other form (i.e. successful real estate agent, landscaper, entrepreneur, etc), that they are a failure; that they have failed to attain the dream and are instead living an existence somewhere between boring and nightmarish.  They shouldn't see themselves this way of course, but they do.  

Rather than hold themselves, circumstance, or no one or nothing at all, accountable for their failure to achieve their dreams, or reevaluate their definition of "success", a large number of these people grow resentful of "the successful"; of the rockstar and moviestar.  They consciously or unconsciously blame them for their suffering, and set about levelling the playing field.    

This playing field has three characteristics: financial worth, popularity and accessibility.  Rockstars and moviestars are defined as "stars" primarily because of their popularity, perceived financial wealth, and because they're hard to access in a personal way.  They are rich, famous and exclusive: far outside of the average person's perceived reach.  However, the average person has discovered — or thinks they've discovered — that a star artist can be brought down to earth through one simple action: stealing their art.

When an artist cannot make money directly from their art, they have a choice: stop making art or find another way to make money.  Of the other ways to make money, the patronage system has emerged, or, better said, has been resurrected.  Within this system one gives the artist money in exchange for something the artist is offering and/or something the patron wants.

Patronage can be a deep expression of consciousness for those who honour artists' wishes first and offer their patronage second, or become patrons if this is indeed the artist's first wish — but it is far more often the opposite.  Those who refuse to honour the artist whose first wish is that their art be purchased, force a system of patronage upon the artist — it is not a choice.  And so, in this case, a self-described patron is not a patron at all — they are an extortionist.

This extortionist — or Dark Patron — is like a person who secretly sabotages an artist's vehicle and then appears as a helpful stranger at the side of the road to offer help.  However, their help is conditional.  The primary condition is that the artist pay them more attention.  This generally takes the form of deeper access to the artist's personal life than they would otherwise be granted.  It requires that the artist form what the Dark Patron believes is a "more personal" relationship with them.  Depending on their perspective, this additional attention either elevates them to the artist's level of fame and exclusivity, or lowers the artist to what they believe is their level of commonness.  If the artist talks to them often enough, or offers back-stage access after a show, or sings an answering machine message to them, or performs whatever duties see them feel sufficiently "loved", sufficiently good about themselves, they will "help" the artist; help them by returning the very money they withheld when they stole their art.   And if the artist refuses, or fails to fill their hole of self-worth, the Dark Patron will defect.  They will defect to conditionally offer their help to another artist who they believe truly values them.

The failure of deep artists to not only address their fans in the stealing of their art, but reward them with attention and praise, is one of the primary factors that has turned an economy whose currency was once talent, into an economy whose currency is now attention. 

Please click here to download this essay as a PDF. Once on the download page, click the three dots along the right margin to complete the process.