"Do independent video makers need to rely on advertising
models....continuing the same relationship to a bloated middle man?"
No, and many of us are not willing to anyway. I don't want consumer products
I may not approve of appearing on the same screen as my own work. It implies
approval.
" Or will a different relationship develop between people watching and the
people who make the stuff they want to watch?"
I believe it will. I'm not sure it will be a pay-per-download model though.
Probably more along the lines of what Issa (formerly Jane Siberry), Kristin
Hersh (Throwing Muses/50 Foot Wave) and other indie music folks are starting
to experiment with. Issa offers downloads free ("accept a gift from Issa")
OR for purchase, with the customer setting the price. Hersh is about to
introduce what sounds like a patronage/participation model of some kind.
For those of us making non-mainstream video, it's a lot more confusing than
it is for musicians, because there's no single model for existing value. My
work is caught in a world where price ranges from nothing (giving it all
away online, irresistible to those of us infected by punk rock roots) to
limited availability through institutional rentals (it KILLS me that young
adults don't see Sadie Benning videos unless they are lucky enough to have a
class with a good budget and a teacher who will rent them - on VHS - from
WMM for $75, but it would kill me more to think she didn't have at least a
shot at making a living from her work), to the "edition of 5 DVDs, $5000
each" contemporary art world. (for many artists, that's possible quick
income, but guaranteed obscurity in the long run). So how does, say, a
filmmaker who maybe make s a few thousand at best every year from a handful
of academic rentals navigate these waters?
I'm launching something in the next month or so on my site, though I haven't
arrived at a model yet. I have an immediate negative (knee jerk?) reaction
to artificial exclusivity, borne of frustration at not being able to see the
stuff I cared about when I was young and those aforementioned punkesque
values, which is part of what makes me love the videblogging world so much.
But I also believe that artists should be able to make a living from their
work, and that when artists are prevented from devoting their working hours
to it the work suffers, and so does the culture.
There is also a danger to going totally DIY though: how do people FIND your
work? I have a filmmaker friend who recently had a somewhat successful indie
film, and made the decision to go with a known distributor and make far less
(if any) money because it would mean the number of people who saw the film
would nicerase several times over. People still look where they've been
conditioned to look: whether its their favorite theater, PBS, the sundance
channel, artforum, film threat... or you tube.
I know a lot of this isn't relevant to many people here, but it is to some,
and it all impacts the economics of it, whether you're posting abstract
water studies made with a cel phone camera or french maid tv. And there's
one more reality we can't avoid: I believe the idea of paying for something
that exists as zeros and ones in cyberspace is, in the long run, doomed.
Which is why I'm inspired by the steps taken by Hersh and Siberry/Issa.
Insert usual apology for ranting with run on sentences here.
(web references: Issa: www.sheeba.ca Kristin Hersh: www.throwingmusic.com
Brook
_______________________________________________________
Brook Hinton
film/video/audio art
www.brookhinton.com
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