Due to the decline of the present economy, today's artists need to be resourceful in ways to maintain an income from their talents. Like the rest of the United States, they are finding a decline in sales due to the high cost of everything, supplies, printing services and shipping. One way to keep costs down is like always, to cut out the middle man. Independent artists have been finding the internet a wonderful way to sell their artwork, not only the originals but also keeping the originals alive in print form. In some instances, the prints have been known to bring in more money than the original itself. Lately, all this has been changing. The final cost of having a decent print made including shipping, is making it less of a viable option. The benefits to this new trend of offering image downloads, much like a recording artist does, are becoming more and more clear.
One benefit is, the money goes directly to the artist with perhaps a small percentage going to PayPal or some other money transaction service. In the past, an artist would divvy up his wage with major portion usually going to the printer. Leaving, the artist with less than half of the total fee structure. This new technique relieves him for having to deal with the printer at all. The customer is now able to print the image directly from his home printer. Some artists are also offering to sign a release for limited reproduction rights for personal use. This entitles the customer to have t-shirts, mouse pads, coffee mugs or whatever made from the purchased image.
A second great benefit to this new trend is, no shipping. Dealing with the post office's limited hours, rigid guidelines, and high shipping fees can be very tiresome. Not at all conducive to the creative process. Shipping out of the United States is especially fraught with sky rocketing costs. The shipping costs alone for a 11x14 in. print shipped to China can be as much as $34.95. That price doesn't include the handling charges. With a digital image download, the customer receives his image as a high resolution.jpg image in an email after the purchase has been completed.
The most influential benefit may be what has now been created, a turn key system. Now an artist can open his email to find the oh so coveted "You have money" email and not have to take any further action on this part, transaction completed. We can now do what the other online marketeers have been doing all along. Selling a virtual product over and over, similar to the recording artist and ebook sellers. The artist can be making money 24/7 while he is relaxing at the beach, sleeping or getting a jump on that next masterpiece.
Instant image downloads are yet another example of the American public making lemonade out of lemons. If set up correctly this can become a wonderful income stream for the independent and represented artist alike. Just be sure to let the customer know, her or she does not have the right to resell the products. Resell rights can be another income stream all together. It always pays to be creative in a changing world. Artists are very creative beings. Now our businesses need to be to survive the ups and downs of an uncertain future.
Folk Artist Kori Vincent has been selling her paintings and prints on the internet for over eight years. Feel free to visit her at her website at http://www.mylittlecornerdesign.com/ or her blog http://www.paintingprimitives.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment