The Online Freelance Artist: How Freelance Artists Benefit in the Digital Community

## **What is an Online Freelance Artist**

An online freelance artist is a member of the creative community. He/She creates original forms of art that caters to a specific online community. While an online artist in general may work for a larger corporation, brand or organization, the online freelance artists works independently as they are themselves the founder of their own works. Examples of an Online Artist can range from Illustrators, entertainers, musicians, comedians, animators, etc.

Online freelance artists are significant to the web as they are key contributors towards the creative industry as well as web culture. Art itself is unique as it has the ability to be understood and culturally satisfy many groups of people around the world. The web creates a global open world that is not constrained by geography or demographics. There is also an increasing abundance of freelance artists because they have the ability to publish works of art using their own creative instincts at no cost.

## Research Question

As the creative industry is increasing more on the web, with the growth of online freelance artists, the main question to consider relates to the benefits a freelance artist has in this digital community. The extensive labour they endure to create a work of art and broadcast it to the web creates questions in regards to the reasoning behind artists using this platform altogether. Thus the core question that must be answered is:

### **Can an Online Freelance Artists benefit Emotionally and Financially from the digital community and strive in their contribution of independent creative culture?**

This question is important as it focuses on 4 core concepts: 1. The freelance artist's reasons for choosing to create works on the web as oppose to physical art 2. The emotional benefits of an online freelance artist 3. The financial benefits of an online artist and 4. The creative culture on the web by freelance artists.

## Research Method

The method of research that will be conducted will be textual analysis. I will observe 3- 5 different freelance artists or freelance founded organizations on a variety of social platforms, like YouTube, and analyze the way they attract viewers, how they utilize crowdfunding and profit-sharing programs, and their success in the digital community both economically and culturally. Each freelance artist that will be analyzed will have their own distinct artistic skill. For example, one artist may be a film maker, another may be a musician and another may be an animator. An online freelance artist is a large diverse term, thus I will cover as many different artistic styles as I can to ensure accurate results.

## Research Question Importance

This question is significant as it contributes to the understanding of the internet and digital culture. The web has become a forum for artists to showcase their creativity and originality and earn profit as well as a large fanbase. The Creative industry is known for creating and establishing a culture, which is comparable to how the web works as individuals have the freedom on the web to accept and gravitate towards a specific culture regardless of brand, company or demographic. This means any artist online, regardless of whether they represent a known brand or only themselves, has the potential to generate a large fanbase for their work.

Thet Shein Win's concept on the "Entrepreneurial Artist" also relates it to the digital community. This pays particular attention to the individual artist in today's society and explores the additional labour and marketing techniques they must learn to strive as a freelance artist. From interviewing artists and attending artist related seminars, Win acknowledges the multi-dimensional aspects a freelance artist must be tasked with, from creating their own content to establishing and promoting their own brand.

The economics of a freelance online artist is also significant because of the creative ways they can profit online. Artists have the ability to create and produce an unlimited amount works at no cost. In return they can benefit from their art if they are able to collect a favourable viewer fanbase. Views are the core contributors to the profit an artist can earn. There are different ways an artist can earn profit from their popularity. Lucy Bennet explores the phenomenon of "crowdfunding" as viewers have the chance to personally contribute to an artist's income by donations. Lauren Horwitch examines another form of online artist profit, being the 'Profit sharing program', which gives the artist an opportunity to earn a steady income in exchange for creating more content in a site or social platform for their large fanbase.

## **How Viewer Participation Contributes to an Online Artist's Economical Success**

### CrowdFunding

Crowdfunding is the distribution and process of raising capital. It acts as a fundraising technique, allowing direct profit to the artist from the consumer. crowdfunding is significant simply because it is the consumers themselves who are assisting to the artists profit as oppose to a company salary. the direct connection between the artist and public consumer is also significant as it has potential to directly contribute to culture (290).

#### Kickstarter

Kickstarter is a global crowdfunding community that focuses on creative projects. They invite artists, filmakers, designers, developers, etc. to broadcast a potential project or idea and allow people to contribute to the artist's works by donating directly to them. The incentive for donations for both the artist and the consumers is to eventually reach an estimated goal set by the founder/artist. If it reaches the estimated goal, the artist will then have enough funds to finish or begin their project. Some artists use donations as a way for giving back to those who donated by delivering rare merchandise or personalized art works catered towards the individual.

#### Patreon

Patreon is another crowdfunding community that pays artists for creating continuous works of art ( videos, songs, comics, etc.). loyal consumers go on the site and pledge a small amount of money per month or per creation. Consumers get the chance to pay their favourite artists and motivate them to continue to create art works.

### Profit-Sharing Partnership

Profit-Sharing Partnership occurs when a company, usually a social platform, shares a portion of their revenue to specific content makers. This usually occurs when an artists develops a large persistent fanbase or loyal viewer base. This concept benefits both parties as the artist begins to earn profit from the platform itself and the company is able to encourage the artist to create more content on their platform, thus keeping the large viewer group in the process. An example of a company that uses this strategy is YouTube as they share their ad-revenue with the top content creators on their platform.

## References

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Bennett, Lucy, et al. "The Barriers Facing Artists’ use of Crowdfunding Platforms: Personality, Emotional Labor, and Going to the Well One Too Many Times." *New Media & Society* 17.2 (2015): 289-307. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

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Horwitch, Lauren. "Pay to play: YouTube shares profits with its top video producers." *Back Stage West* 24 May 2007: 3+. *Academic OneFile*. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

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Win, Thet Shein. "Marketing the Entrepreneurial Artist in the Innovation Age: Aesthetic Labor, Artistic Subjectivity, and the Creative Industries." *Anthropology of Work Review* 35.1 (2014): 2-13. Web. 27 Oct. 2015

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