“If I Don’t Get My Way, I’ll Take My Art & Go to Hell.”

There seems to be a rising tide of this around artist venues on the Net these days.  Visualize a grown man throwing himself on the ground and screaming and kicking like a tot in tantrum frenzy.  And not just one or two, but more than several.  Arrogance?  Definitely.  Petulance?  Exactly. Shooting self in foot?  No.  More like the head, but that’s a good thing…for other artists.  ”Don’t let the door hit you on the hindmost as you leave, and please do take your art with you!”

Artists, be advised, please.  There are a million-million of you out there all wanting your chunk of the consumer’s dollars.  If you think for one minute that any company or dot com has to pay any attention to you as an individual, or even you as a group, you are mistaken.  These are not the days when the little guy or even a bunch of little guys can get their way by screaming and pounding their fists on the table.  And a class action suit is not going to net you ground within a decade of filing it, especially when the contract you agree to doesn’t expressly say you get what you are demanding.

Companies, domains and websites are owned.  It’s the owner’s name on the bottom line.   If they allow you to show in their gallery, in their venue, on their websites, you are there in accordance to their terms, which can change at any time.  You are not there on terms dictated by you.  You don’t own the real estate and the operation.  It runs by owner’s, organization’s, or corporation’s dictate, not yours.  Get used to that fact, and do, by all means, get your own operation going where you dictate the terms, too.  That way you can do it your way…and use what other services are around to enhance your enterprise.  Otherwise, you are just throwing yourself down the tube, and that tube heads “south.”