I was excited to be on a Twitter Spaces at the launch of @CathSimard_’s Project From Nowhere to Somewhere and engaged in some discussion about the role that Web3 is playing in changing the nature of the relationship between artist and collector.
Credit to @Mintfaced for sending me down the rabbit hole and pointing me to some of the academic research on the topic of “service-dominant logic” (#SDLogic) and “co-creation of value” that perfectly encapsulates how I see Web3 Art evolving
Adding this body of research based on the late Robert Lusch and Professor @SteveVargo to @packym’s definition of Web3: “Web3 is the internet owned by the builders and users, orchestrated by tokens” and the pieces start to fall into place.
Let me elaborate.
In my professional role, I find time to mentor young professionals and I make the point that we’re all born naked, shiny and screaming. Yet, decades later some of us are still questioning our purpose in life and others are changing the course of human history.
There are plenty of reasons for the difference - intelligence, physical traits, other God-given talents. But much of it isn’t so much the resources that you’re born with but what it is that you do with those resources.
Resourcefulness > Resources.
The research on #SDLogic provides a rich framework to think about resourcefulness and provides an area of exploration for artists in Web3 to pursue, or at a minimum, to be aware of the concept, to see if it in any way can help make more connections with collectors.
The research observes that there’s been a shift in marketing; from products and goods to intangibles, from production to service, from transactional to relational.
You can see this in how people make purchase decisions; people don’t buy “goods” they buy “results”. I don’t by a TV, I buy an entertainment experience. I don’t buy a drill, I buy a ¼ inch hole. I don’t buy a handbag, I buy a life affirming status symbol.
So the way companies market “goods” is by focusing on the result that the good delivers, the “service” that it provides. Here’s the hook: Every good that someone buys has a service that it delivers. Even Art.
There’s value to artists getting curious about this idea. Are you selling a jpeg or something intangible - a feeling, an experience, a connection to something?
Are you inviting your collectors in to co-create value with you? Or is a sale a one night stand?
What are some of the most successful artists of the Web3 space selling, if not art?
@SamSpratt’s Luci project (note my PFP) is selling “an evolving story about the rediscovery of our most ancient human values in a post-historic world”.
@cathsimard is selling “her first ever photography commission that creates a relationship between artist, collector and Artifical Intelligence”.
With QQL, @tylerhobbs and @dandelion_wist are selling “a new way to mint NFTs that celebrates emergence, unpredictability, and happenstance over forced rarity…encouraging collectors to explore the edges of the algorithm, play a role in the output and take agency to become a co-creator.”
OK, cool, so this is what the artists are selling, but what are the collectors buying?
@culture3xyz recently posted a piece how legendary collector @anonymoux2311 has established themselves as a collector - the piece has phrases like ‘supporting the creator’, ‘gut burning’, ‘invest in good people’, ‘meaningful relationships’ and ‘win together’.
Nowhere in the piece does @anonymoux2311 mention what you typically think of when describing art like color, textures, lines, composition, balance or patterns.
Make no mistake: Web3 collectors are collecting the intangibles. Sure, some collectors are looking to flip and make money, this is not about them. There are two types of people in the world, mercenaries and missionaries - this is about the missionaries.
Please, if you take away anything please take away this point. So I’ll say it again: Web3 Art collectors aren’t buying art, they’re buying what the art gives them.
The collector is always a co-creator of value whether you recognize it as such or not. Once your work was collected it shape-shifted. It was assigned value by the collector for an infinite number of reasons, some of which you may have never anticipated.
Once collected, the collector will display it, share it, store it and promote it in ways you never imagined. The art will take on new meaning. Once sold, is your job as the artist over or is it just beginning? There’s only one right answer.
It is critical for the artist to tap into this question and wrestle with it.
A key component of co-creation of value is to think about the process as an on-going series of steps that focus on continuous experimentation and improvement. A sale isn’t the finish line, it’s the starting line.
I might be running the risk of getting too conceptual so let me try and break it down. Here’s what you might consider:
Identify what makes you unique - the knowledge, artistic skills, methods, topics that set you apart
Find collectors that value these unique traits - use Twitter, be active on Twitter, participate in Spaces (don’t just listen, request the mic), who’s liking your work, find other work that approximates your style, check out Etherscan and see who’s been collecting those pieces, join the spaces they’re in
Cultivate relationships - biggest obstacle here will be to put a muzzle on the mouth of that tiny voice inside of your head telling you you’re not worthy or competent enough. Be sincere, enthusiastic, creative and supportive of others. Don’t overdo it, slow down, avoid acts of desperation
Learn to pivot - experimentation is key, listen to feedback both direct and indirect. Be curious about what’s working with your art or in the market in general and mirror some of the behavior - find the balance between mirroring behavior and being true and unique - it’s rarely one or the other. Stretch yourself and be vulnerable.
Does this mean I should scrap everything and start over?
No. This perspective doesn’t completely replace other ways you might be marketing your work but it forces you to see if there’s a way to adjust your approach.
But what about “art is the roadmap”? “Ars gratia artis”? I’m an artist, not a marketer.
If you’re an artist reading this you probably fall into one of three camps - the hobbyists, the hungry and the heroes:
The hobbyists: These artists are unsure of this entire space. More often than not, Web3 feels like one big rug pull waiting to happen. Hobbyists thought maybe they could supplement their income with some NFT sales. Maybe they even have a successful traditional photography or art business outside of Web3. Maybe they have an unfulfilling IRL job and were hoping to use Web3 to build up a ‘big ol’ fuck you fund’ to tell their boss to stuff it. But to this group, Web3 is just a sideshow. If they make it, great, if not, they have other things in their life they can focus on.
The hungry: This group has scuttled their ships. Web3 Art is their life’s passion. The hungry are the one’s participating in all the Twitter Spaces and requesting a few seconds to speak, they say ‘gm’ everyday and say ‘gm’ back, they’ve minted bangers but want more. They are immensely positive but doubt creeps in every now and again. They’re destined for greatness but they’re still striving to make it. They know the answer to the question “how bad do you want it?” If you’re hungry, this piece is for you!
The heroes: These are the artists that set a standard of achievement that others aspire to. You can envy them or gaze in awe. The one thing you can’t do is ignore them. Every single one of them can hang their success on the concepts underlying co-creation of value - whether they know it or not. They’re doing it explicitly like Tyler, Dandelion, Cath, Fewocious, Matt Scobel, and every CC0 project. Some have tapped into the intangible and they’re evolving and experimenting their body of work around that intangible like Drift, Guido, Sam Spratt and RachelWood
This is really targeted to “the hungry”.
I don’t have the resources of the Heroes, so I guess I’m out of luck?
Not necessarily. If you take the concept of co-creation literally, those are exceptional models for sure. But the ways you can engage your collector in the co-creation process are as infinite as the works themselves.
I hesitate even giving examples, because there really are an infinite number of ways to think about this but a few thought starters….
Find a way to give every bidder of an auction who lost the auction something of value - the winning bidders of an auction are your customers but so is everyone who bid on your work but lost, they just don’t have anything to show for it.
Donate a small portion of proceeds on some sales to a charity of the collector’s choice
Commit to using a portion of proceeds to the purchase of art from an unknown artist
You see that a Collector has multiple pieces of a sold out edition that you like. Offer to buy one from the collector in exchange for them buying a piece from you at a higher price. “I see you have 2 editions from Artist X that you paid 0.01E for, I’ll buy one of those from you if you buy this 1:1 from me” You, the collector and Artist X all win.
Suppose your art is of a specific location in a location you can get to easily and the collector is in a different part of the world. Have the collector’s ENS name inscribed on a small stone and dropped at that location - take a pic and send it to the collector - guaranteed to knock their socks off!
The very premise of Web3 is to use tokens to orchestrate behavior between seller and buyer without the need for middlemen. Frameworks like #SDLogic require you to be as close to the customer as possible and demonstrate how relevant the thinking is to everything we’re doing to build this community.
Thanks again to @Mintfaced for sending me down the rabbithole.