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Being an artist, whether you’re a performing artist, literary artist, or a fine artist, isn’t for the faint of heart. And it isn’t for people with thin skins. This is something you’ll find out very quickly as you put your work out for people to see and start looking to get paid as an artist.

Resilient Artist

If you’re not a resilient artist you’re going to have a tough time sticking with it, and you’ll open yourself up to a lifetime of disappointment. Resilience is what keeps us from giving up when all odds are against us.

What Are Your Odds as an Artist?

What are the odds? Well, for actors who are in the Screen Actors Guild, approximately 93% of them are unemployed at any given time. And two thirds of the actors who are in the guild make less than $1000 a year. That’s not even enough to pay a month’s rent in Hollywood. The odds of making a good living as any kind of artist are stacked against you. But if you know that going in and can weather the storms, you have a much better chance of at least making a good living at your craft, and hopefully getting to the top of your field.

The Entrepreneurial Artist

At Indie Sponsor we believe in the entrepreneurial artist. What entrepreneurs have in common with artists is that you have to be a bit of a risk taker to succeed. And with all risk comes failure. It’s what you do with that failure that will define you as an artist. Failure is just a stepping stone to success. If you’re resilient, you’ll begin to see failure as opportunity and learn from it.

Being an inventor, one of my favorite quotes is from Thomas Edison. “Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up”. Think about how many actors, singers, writers, painters simply gave up inches away from getting their big break. Where would they be now? Sometimes I think a lot of artists that make it are the ones that absolutely refuse to ever give up. They have a never-ending supply of resilience.

For two weeks each year Red Bull sponsors the Red Bull Music Academy. Two groups of thirty participants participate in a collaboration of recording sessions. Lectures are given by music icons, and performances given in local clubs and music halls. Participants are chosen in advance based on their passion for learning and an open mind for global collaboration.

Life in the Music Industry

The exchange of ideas and networking are the basis for the academy, which has been described as life-changing by former participants. Vocalists, songwriters, instrumentalists, producers, and engineers mingle and learn together. Music luminaries share their knowledge. Of production and music history. Also their own personal stories of life in the music industry with a new generation.

Innovation in Music

There are ten custom built studios where participants can jam to their heart’s content. Then collaborate with other musicians and producers from around the world. Innovation in music is key and new sounds and genres are formed.

Music Sponsorship Process

Music enthusiasts submit their application to the Red Bull Academy. Then a group of international record label executives, producers, music journalists and Academy members pour through the applicants. They listen to their music and read the words they’ve written themselves to determine who gets in.

Each application is listened to and read by at least two people. The merit of your music and the passion you have for the music industry stands on its own merit. Having money or success in the music industry isn’t a determining factor in the decision.

The Academy is looking for a variety of backgrounds, cultures and skills to come up with the best blend. So, if you don’t get in one year, you should apply again the next year. It’s all about coming up with the right mix of people.

The Red Bull Music Academy isn’t about being discovered as an artist or about sponsoring any particular musician. It’s a unique musical experience. This year’s experience will take place in Tokyo.

From the time I was a teenager I was auditioning for acting jobs. I would have taken pretty much anything to get work. I’ve played a zombie, belly dancer, beach bunny, rag doll, fairy, bimbo, and girl #3. There weren’t a lot of roles that I turned down, especially when I was a teenager. I just wanted to work. Every part was just an acting job and I saw it as fun.

Using Reverse Psychology to Get Acting Jobs

So when my old manager called last week and asked if I wanted a part in a small indie film, he was surprised when I didn’t jump at the chance, and kind of mumbled “Nah, not really”. In fact, he was completely baffled. “What do you mean ‘not really’? “That’s totally out of character”.

Yeah, exactly. It’s funny how when you really, really want something and give 110% trying to get it that it never seems to come easy. Maybe it’s just that you want it too bad. Or maybe there’s some kind of desperation in your voice that shows through. That’s completely possible.

But not on that day. I surprised even myself that I genuinely wasn’t interested. But that made him even more persistent.

Film Development

The same thing happened a few years ago with a script. I was working in film development and a fairly big studio dude came by the office. He happened to see my script on the desk and liked the title. I told him it was mine and he asked if he could read it. After all the times I’ve tried to get scripts into certain people’s hands, and this time big studio dude actually asked if he could read one.

I said no. Not because I didn’t want him to read it, but because it wasn’t really ready. This was a first draft and I didn’t think it was smart to let him read a first draft. (Now looking back on it, it was a smart choice).

But the more I said no, the more he insisted. He promised he could see through a first draft and he really wanted to read it. I knew that wouldn’t be the case. The first draft sucked. And I didn’t want him to see that as a first impression.

Now I’m starting to wonder if I shouldn’t have been using reverse psychology to get acting jobs all along. When that acting role came along, should I have just turned it down? Even if I needed the money?

I’m not saying you should start turning down work. But if you really don’t want the part, say no and mean it. They just may be so baffled that they call you back in for something else.

As an artist, whether it’s in the fine arts, performing arts, or literary arts, we all go through that exhilarating, but exasperating process of creativity. Putting our hearts and souls, and sweat and blood into a piece of art that will hopefully touch other people when they view it or listen to it.

But what if you put all of that time and energy into something just to have it destroyed? What if you were to destroy your own art?

The Cardboard Benini

That is the theme of a great documentary called “The Cardboard Benini”, the story of artist Jimmy Crashow. Crashow showed his artistic talent early in life, when he started making artwork out of discarded cardboard boxes. What everyone else thought was trash, Jimmy saw as a wonderful opportunity to apply his skills to a material that was going to be thrown away.

Throughout his life he supported himself with his illustrations and wood carvings, but it was the cardboard sculptures that were really his passion. He would spend hours in his studio creating unique sculptures that were up to 15 feet tall. One of these sculptures caught the attention of an art dealer Allan Stone, who would later become Jimmy’s dealer.

Stone, an avid art collector ended up with several of the massive sculptures in his house. But after he ran out of room he put them in the backyard, totally exposed to the elements.

Destroy Your Own Art

After Stone died, Crashow went by the house to pay his respects and found the artwork he labored over and cherished was tarnished and melted into a heap of mush. It was then that he got the idea to speed up the process. If cardboard comes from the trash, what if it returned to the trash? And what if the artist who created it also helped destroy it?

In the documentary “The Cardboard Benini”, you see the whole process from conception to death, a purposeful metaphor for life. It will force you to ask the question “As an artist, could you destroy your own creativity”?

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction. Kind of like “Planet of the Apes” only with robots. It’s hard enough getting a job these days and even harder getting a job as an actor. So when I heard that more and more jobs for actors were going to be replaced by robots, well frankly, I got worried.

Will Actors Be Replaced By Robots?

Not that I’m looking for a job as an actor right now, but plenty of my friends are. They work part-time jobs as waiters, valet parkers and bartenders hoping to get that big break as an actor that will propel them to the A list. Or at least pay their bills for a while. Yes, they’ve always had to deal with the fact that celebrities will get the job over them, or that a producer’s cousin or girlfriend or next-door neighbor will get the job over them, but robots? Now that’s really hard to compete with.

Robots Don’t Need Makeup

First of all robots are smarter than people. Well, maybe they aren’t quite yet, but if you’ve seen IBM’s Watson on Jeopardy you know they’re getting close. Robots certainly would never screw up their lines. And forget about their memory. I won’t even go there.

Robots wouldn’t need all that makeup and hair styling. And their wardrobe is pretty basic. You don’t have to worry about them being in a bad mood or hiding out in their trailers. If you don’t like their mood you just reprogram them.

Robots would never call in sick and they don’t need health care coverage. They don’t complain about working conditions and they can work double overtime without getting tired. In fact, who needs turnaround time? Robots can keep going around the clock and can probably finish a movie in half the time as a human.

Would You Hire a Robot to Babysit Your Kids?

A Japanese retail company, Aeon Co. recently brought in a four foot tall robot to babysit kids while their parents shopped. The PaPeRo robot can track kids using an ID chip, give pop quizzes, and even crack jokes with the kids. So, now I’m wondering, should Jim Carrey be worried?

Have you ever been to a comedy club where you were the only one laughing at the comedian? Or a film where you walked out and said “How did that get 5 stars?” Well, it seems that art is truly in the eye of the beholder. One man’s treasure is another man’s trash. But what if science could determine the key to being a successful artist?

Does Science Hold the Key to Being a Successful Artist?

Scientists are attempting to use transcranial stimulation. By sending electrical impulses to certain parts of the brain they think they can improve creativity. A person can look at that same comedian or that same movie and find it pleasurable instead of repulsive.

Scientists have been prodding and poking the brain for years now trying to unlock the keys to our deepest feelings, desires, thoughts and emotions. Some of their recent experiments have even shown that by stimulating certain parts of the brain, subjects were able to solve math problems they could never do before. And helped musicians learn how to play a new instrument faster.

This leads me to wonder. “Would you be willing to have your head dissected if you knew you might come out of it being able to play guitar like Jimi Hendrix?

Lightning Strike Turns Man Into a Composer

Tony Cicoria, an orthopaedic surgeon was struck by lightning at a New York park. The lightning went through his head and changed his life. He was never into playing the piano, but the lightning strike gave him a passion for the instrument. First he played other people’s music and now he composes his own.

Transcranial Stimulation

Of course, transcranial stimulation is noninvasive. Many of these studies are more likely to help scientists come up with better treatments for depression than to turn a fledgling artist into a rock star.

After all, when you think about it, being depressed really sucks the joy out of life in general. You lose the ability to find joy in most anything, much less a painting, a film or even a comedy act. So it stands to reason that if you are in a great mood you just might be more likely to find that abstract painting beautiful.

Unfortunately for now there isn’t a magic pill you can take to turn you into the next Keith Richards or Eric Clapton. But you can bet that scientists will keep trying.

In the wake of the sudden death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, it got me thinking, “Are artists more prone to addiction than people who aren’t as creative”? Is there some trait that artists have that makes them more susceptible? After all, Phillip Seymour Hoffman is just the latest in a long line of artists who have succumbed to some kind of drug. Anna Nicole Smith, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, River Phoenix, Amy Winehouse, Judy Garland, John Belushi, Elvis Presley, Heath Ledger. And the list goes on and on.

Research from the National Institutes of Health claims that in the past 40 years or so approximately 300 drug-related deaths have been from celebrities. Most of those were musicians and actors, but also includes other artists.

Genetic Predisposition to Addiction

But before we start putting the blame somewhere, think about this. About 40% of a predisposition to addiction is already genetically determined. This isn’t an excuse for addiction, just one reason it tends to happen.

Taking Creative Risks

Biochemistry tests on monkeys and rats shows us a lot about the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is connected to pleasure and reward. Addicts don’t feel as much pleasure, so they are always striving to get more. When you think about the fact that artists are really taking creative risks every day, maybe some of this makes sense. Risk takers tend to crave attention and will go to great lengths to get it. Many artists are the same way, craving the spotlight and driving themselves to extremes to get there.

According to Psychology Today:

“Scientists have learned that people whose minds and lives are controlled by alcohol or drugs are not more creative or more successful as a result. When asked by Scientific American magazine whether there’s a link between creativity and addiction, neuroscientist David Linden of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine responded succinctly, “No.” To suggest otherwise confuses coincidence with cause.”

Escaping Reality

Addiction is one way to avoid emotional pain and escape reality. Does it have anything to do with the fact that the career path for an artist is usually long and fraught with rejection every step of the way? Do artists tend to internalize the pain and seek to cover it up with drugs and alcohol?

Writer Pearl S. Buck said “The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this. A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive.”

Maybe that’s just what it boils down to. What do you think? Are artists more prone to addiction and why?

I was watching an interview with Bono and Elon Musk the other day on creativity. They each had a different take on it, and I wanted to ponder the subject further. Where do artists get their inspiration?

Bono’s Creative Inspiration

Bono said his inspiration comes from either despair or joy. When he is in the joy phase his cup runneth over and there is joy to spare. When the business life, health, and home life is all in balance and things are going great there is a certain burst of creativity. He gets pleasure out of sharing that joy with others in a song and he starts writing like crazy.

But he also gets inspiration from despair. When he’s in a hole and needs to create to get out of it and attempt to put things right with the world. He writes songs to pull himself out of the hole.

“The great songs kind of write you”, states Bono. Or as Yates says “The dancer and the dance become the same thing”.

Creative Types Have More Ups and Downs

None of this comes as a surprise to psychologists, who say that creative types have a lot more ups and downs than non creatives. They tolerate ambiguity and leave themselves open to new adventures and experiences. Their highs may be higher, but the lows are also lower. Creative artists are much more likely to live life on the edge.

Elon Musk’s Creative Inspiration

Co-founder of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk, sees creativity from a different angle. Musk, an engineer and inventor, favors more of a forced creativity model. As an inventor myself, I use this every day to generate new innovation.

Musk calls his method “first principles”, or basically starting with the fundamentals that you know to be true instead of making slight improvements to someone else’s system. He draws from the laws of physics as creative inspiration, and likes to take things apart to see for himself from the ground up how they work.

Creative Pitches

Most people, especially in the entertainment industry and high tech, like the idea of making slight improvements to someone else’s system instead of using the first principles method. It’s much easier to make a pitch by saying “It’s “Ghostbusters’ meets ‘Twilight”, or “Facebook meets Twitter”, rather than starting from scratch with a concept that no one has ever heard of.

As Musk says “Think until your brain hurts”. This is more of a forced creativity method that requires stripping things down to the basics and building it from the ground up. It’s also a way to make radical leaps in innovation, which Musk is known for.

As an artist, where do you get your inspiration?

After being in the entertainment industry long enough you come across a lot of talented people. Being on the casting, distribution and development side, it always surprised me when I met an artist with incredible talent that no one had ever heard of, including me. You could be the next Oprah, or Madonna, or Spielberg, but if you don’t have a fan base, you may just be destined to be a legend in your own mind. And that would be a terrible waste of talent.

How to Get More Fans

Here are 3 ways to get more fans:

Get Seen

The first thing is that you simply have to get out there and get out a LOT. If you’re a musician, play everywhere you can as often as you can. If you’re an actor, audition for plays, films, or staged readings. Produce your own projects. Volunteer for your friend’s projects. Don’t sit around waiting for them to come to you. Make them happen.

If you’re a filmmaker, make films. Make more films and get them out everywhere you can. If you’re a writer, write. Yes, this sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised how many people claim to be writers who rarely write. People who claim to be actors, yet sit around waiting for the phone to ring. Also, don’t hide behind your computer and don’t communicate solely through texting and email. Let people see that you’re human.

Give People Incentive

There was an old shampoo commercial that said “…and they tell 2 friends, and they tell 2 friends…” The point is, if you want fans you have to find ways to multiple them, and that means they have to tell 2 friends and those friends tell 2 more, and so on. You could just count on waiting for enough fans who really like your stuff to eventually pass it on. Or you could do it the free market way and give people a little incentive. Am I saying you should bribe them? No, not at all.

But if they are your fans anyway they would probably be happy to pass your art along. They would be even happier and more driven to do it if you gave them some incentive. Check out Fandistro. Musicians reward their fans with a 20% commission when they introduce others to their music. This is the whole premise behind affiliate programs online, and that “buy 10 frozen yogurts, get 1 free” card offline. You would have gone there anyway, but getting a free yogurt is just extra incentive.

Stay in Touch

One way to stay in touch with your fans is through social media. This is one reason why you should always be doing something to further your career. You need to constantly have something to talk about other than what you had for lunch. Do you have a newsletter? If you don’t, you should. Occasionally give out some cool freebies and secret VIP backstage passes to your very best fans.

People love free stuff. And if they already love your work, they’ll also love your free CD, or book, or T-shirt, or fill in the blank with something cool and unique. Give them a two for one ticket to your next concert or play. That way they’ll bring a friend. Make sure you say it should be a friend who’s never seen your work before. BAM! Now you’ve added even more fans. And hopefully they’ll tell 2 friends, and they’ll tell 2 friends…

Indie Producers Find Their Audience

A made-for-TV movie about flying sharks made headlines when fans took to Twitter to spread the word. This turned a little-known B movie into a cult classic overnight. The premier was watched by 1.37 million viewers. The second airing brought in 1.89 million viewers (an increase of 38%) and the third airing brought in 2.1 million viewers, making it the most watched original movie encore in Syfy history. This led to Regal Cinemas picking it up for 200 big screens nationwide.

B Movie Fans Are Very Loyal

As someone who has done my share of B movies (Elves and Twisted Justice), I can tell you that when you find your B movie fan audience they can be very, very loyal. While “Elves” barely made it on the radar in the U.S., it was a huge cult classic in Japan.

I did that movie many years ago, but I still get fan letters and requests for interviews. I know other actors and producers who have had the same experience.

People are either going to love your cheesy low budget movie or hate it. And the ones that love it, spread the word. Now fans can spread the word through social media. And that is a great thing for indie producers.

Smaller Loyal Niches

As the world splits off into smaller and smaller niches, it’ll become more important to have a loyal social media following of raving fans. The niches may be getting smaller, but their reach, through the Internet is able to target most of the world quickly and effectively.

Indie Producers Find Their Audience

As someone who also used to be a TV/film distributor, I see this as a great opportunity for indie producers with great material to finally find their audience. Okay, so it doesn’t even have to be great material. Indie producers just have to find their audience.