Información para hacerse una casa (Mayo 2024)
No muchos años antes de 2012, la idea de que uno podría lograr el éxito e incluso el estrellato en las industrias creativas a través de la autopromoción no era realista. La forma en que funcionaba el sistema en general era que los escritores, músicos y otros "talentos" que creaban obras de arte y entretenimiento estaban a merced de agentes y ejecutivos que decidían qué productos valían la pena apoyar y vender. El éxito, por lo tanto, a menudo dependía de seguir las reglas establecidas, y los caminos hacia la fama eran limitados. Las vías para hacerlo solo, como vanidades y prensas privadas, rara vez pagaban dividendos comerciales significativos. Sin embargo, durante el siglo XXI, Internet ha perturbado profundamente muchas prácticas tradicionales de la industria. Con un mayor acceso a fanáticos y financieros,Los tipos creativos pueden negociar más fácilmente el sistema y tomar un mayor control de sus propias carreras.
Operando dentro del sistema.
Para un cantante aficionado, un gran conjunto de pipas y una sonrisa deslumbrante rara vez son suficientes para captar la atención de la industria discográfica. Es por eso que tantos artistas se mudan a Los Ángeles o Nashville con la esperanza de encontrar oportunidades para ser descubiertos. Sin embargo, para dos de los cantantes pop más famosos del mundo, todo lo que se necesitó fue poner algunas canciones en línea. La vocalista británica Adele, cuyo álbum 21 ha vendido más de 20 millones de copias en todo el mundo, fue firmada por XL Recordings en 2006 después de que el sello descubriera algunas demos publicadas en su nombre en el sitio web de redes sociales MySpace. Del mismo modo, la sensación adolescente canadiense Justin Bieber le debe su megafama no a la línea de montaje de Disney, sino a un lote de videos caseros de YouTube que llamaron la atención de un promotor de música bien conectado.En ambos casos, la naturaleza democrática de Internet permitió a los artistas atraer la atención de la industria sin gastar mucho esfuerzo, y Bieber fue especialmente capaz de construir su marca en línea antes de vender un solo álbum.
Another route to a conventional industry arrangement, it seems, is to exploit new media so effectively that it becomes impossible to be ignored by the old. That was the case for Ukraine-born classical pianist Valentina Lisitsa, who landed a record deal in 2012 only after her amateur performance videos, which she posted to YouTube and sold in DVD form on Amazon.com, attracted millions of views. So, too, for American author Amanda Hocking. In 2010, having received countless rejection letters from publishing houses, she began self-publishing her “paranormal romance” novels as e-books for Amazon’s Kindle device. Shrewdly pricing her titles at discount rates, she became an out-of-nowhere millionaire and was eventually able to ink a contract with St. Martin’s Press. (Wake, the first book in her Watersong series, was printed on paper in 2012.) Meanwhile, a fan-fiction Web site provided a platform for British writer E.L. Jamesto share her erotically charged stories with a community of thousands. Their popularity led to the publication of James’s Fifty Shades of Grey, first by a small Australian press in 2011 and then, as demand skyrocketed, by mainstream publishers as well. The novel was swiftly followed in 2012 by two best-selling sequels.
For some people the problem is not capturing industry interest but rather maintaining it. Many up-and-coming musicians, for instance, sign contracts with major record labels only to have their careers put on hold as the label undergoes a shift in personnel or priorities. When rhythm-and-blues singer-songwriter Frank Ocean found himself in such a predicament in early 2011, he decided to post the entirety of his debut album, Nostalgia, Ultra., on his Tumblr blog. The buzz surrounding the digital release forced Ocean’s label, Def Jam, to pay attention, and in 2012 it issued his follow-up, Channel Orange, to much acclaim.
Digital media also offer opportunities for those who have already enjoyed some success to push themselves beyond the roles into which they have been pigeonholed. British author Stephen Leather had published thriller novels via conventional means for more than 20 years before turning to the e-book market in 2010 as a way of self-distributing works that his publisher had turned down, in part because they fell outside his usual genre. Beyond providing him with a measure of creative freedom, the gambit established a lucrative sideline. For her part, American model Kate Upton had found steady work in various print campaigns, including the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, before a video that captured her spontaneously dancing in the stands of a basketball game went viral on the Internet in 2011. The 19-year-old bombshell quickly leveraged her newfound celebrity into a reputation as a versatile supermodel, with industry insiders speculating that she could soon even break into high fashion.
Doing It Yourself (D.I.Y.).
It is clear that for many talented people, participating in the traditional system makes sense. After some fans accused Hocking of “selling out” by signing with St. Martin’s, she noted that she wanted to reach potential fans who did not own e-readers—and also that wearing multiple hats (writer, editor, and publicist) had become exhausting. Others, however, have discovered that embracing the system as a whole is no longer a necessity.
Although record labels can do a great deal to promote new artists and help them develop their fan base, such efforts are not as crucial for already-popular veterans. That is in part what drove arena-filling British art-rock band Radiohead to abandon its label and self-release In Rainbows (2007) as a “pay what you wish” download on its Web site. Since then a number of other high-profile musicians have embarked on similar schemes, either distributing entire albums for free online (e.g., Nine Inch Nails) or setting up their own record companies (e.g., Dolly Parton). Recently, even comedians have followed suit. In 2011 American comic auteur Louis C.K. allowed fans to purchase his latest stand-up special as a digital video exclusively through his Web site. Offering the content at the remarkably low price of five dollars, he grossed $1 million within two weeks, and in June 2012 he successfully used the same direct model to sell affordable tickets to his live performances.
Obviously, part of what makes such experiments work is that established and recognizable artists can usually risk whatever production costs they accrue and can rely on a vast network of fans to help promote the project. However, even some lesser-known creative professionals are finding that they can survive on an independent (or at least a semi-independent) basis. For instance, Web sites such as Etsy and Saatchi Online (owned by the London-based Saatchi Gallery) provide self-representing visual artists and craft makers (i.e., those without gallery representation) with highly visible platforms to display and sell their work. Etsy’s services have proved sufficiently fruitful that a regular feature on its blog, titled “Quit Your Day Job,” spotlights members who have been able to earn a living through the site. As well, Kickstarter and other “crowdfunding” sites make it easier for creative people to solicit and raise money for their projects.
Perhaps the easiest way to achieve stardom on one’s own is through blogging, as celebrity-gossip king Perez Hilton can attest. While Hilton attracted a following by engaging in rampant snark, Tavi Gevinson, who started her Style Rookie blog in 2008 as an 11-year-old in suburban Chicago, drew in readers with an adolescent enthusiasm for fashion and the smart, eccentric corners of pop culture. Inspired by the hip 1990s magazine Sassy, she soon sought to launch a publication of her own, in collaboration with media doyenne (and Sassy founder) Jane Pratt. After determining that the involvement of Pratt’s media company would restrict her control, however, Gevinson severed ties, and her monthly Web magazine Rookie, which she owned in full, debuted in 2011 to no shortage of praise. With its editor still only in high school, the intelligent independent site might well represent a new paradigm for the creative class.
