This is Somewhat of Crossover Interest for Visual and Musical Artists.

It happened again...another of my images went viral. When this happened with the Poe Boy image I was somewhat heartbroken, so to speak. I felt like I was bleeding potential money. While I do not consider myself a greedy person, I do need to live. Living on less than 12 thousand a year is quite frankly Bullshit. Not only is it bullshit but nearly unfathomable to most.

Anyone familiar with my work throughout the years and my start as a Neo-Pop artist could easily & rightfully say that I have no right to bemoan the rapid assimilation of my work back into the creative pool.

The problem with the way that I am forced to work now means that much of my work is P.O.D. (print on demand) and this means a few different things as far as the sales and execution of my work goes. First it means that my work yields little profit to begin with. The sites that offer print on demand work are rather greedy with their profit margins for the artists. It also means that the images on these P.O.D. sites are set up so that the image that you see is the image that you get. There is no real way to watermark or protect the images.

IF and that is a big IF, I had the upfront capital to produce the works (be that plates, shoes, t-shirts ect.) in larger quantity then I would be able to realize better returns on my work BUT this also means that I would have to maintain my own website, shopping carts, shipping and build the web traffic from the ground up. I do at the moment have my own site but that still relies heavily on the print on demand market.

A few well spent dollars tossed into the Chinese economy would certainly mean more profit but much, much more work on my part. I am not afraid of an increase in the workload but it still does not eradicate the fact that with working capital I would fair much better in the economical and profit realization fronts.

Putting this all into one easy to swallow pill is a real task. I am trying to think of this in terms of "Free Promotion" and yet that is buying into the same line of reasoning that every artist has nearly come to believe themselves due to the proliferation of the game of "Screw the Artist". The standard line is "It's good exposure". If you have created anything as an artist beyond your coloring book phase at 8 years old then you have likely heard this before. I tend to reply, "I live in the Midwest, people die of exposure in the winter".

I do not want anyone to mistake this as bitterness but rather I am trying to find my way in this new paradigm where every thought can instantaneously be shared. The age of electronic interconnectedness. Musicians full well have had to adapt and perhaps have even felt the sting of this phenomena called the internet. It is, at once, a blessing and a curse at best. This means that an artist can look forward to sharing their latest creations with the push of a button quite literally but this also means that, in essence that work is no longer the property of the creator with the same push of said button.

As I said, this is not intended to be a bitter diatribe but rather an admission that I am grappling with this amazingly brutal behemoth called the internet and trying to find a way to finally enjoy at least a few of the benefits of a lifetime of creativity along the way. Until I finally figure this out, enjoy the work.

End Notes: Thanks for giving this a look/see. It was reposted from my FACEBOOK page and seemed to have struck a nerve with many of my friends.

The first guest here at Chatter of Apes...Schatzie Guerra

1980 was my Freshman Year and everything old was new again.
At least half of the people I had attended grammar school with were going elsewhere and my social circle was easily halved. Time to meet new friends.
September of that year was to bring back the highly anticipated return of Led Zeppelin and the folks in my primarily hesher neighborhood were in 7th Heaven.
Now, up until this point, I had been exposed to the typical MOR format available from WLS and its Easy Listening dial-mates. There were occasional derivations, and I remain to this day a fan of the piano as 'band' and am particularly fond of Chopin, but-
The death of John Bonham put the stops on the Zeppelin tour and also as a functioning band.
My Uncle, being slightly older than myself had introduced me to some of the 'heavier' artists around on WLUP, your '70s staples - Hendrix, The Who, Aerosmith and the like; there was also something new happening and I admit to my curiosity being piqued.
'New Wave' was the term and off the top of my head, I recall Blondie's 'Heart of Glass' followed by 'Call Me', the latter having made the charts due to its use in 'American Gigolo'.
'Heart of Glass' had what I later found out was that Giorgio Moroder driving synth, the like of which I had never heard in a 'rock' song, disco being a significant part of the music scene also.
That synth...
Kinda like a piano, but not---I was fascinated.
Girls liked it, most of the guys I knew did not, it being too close to disco, and dancing
To them there was no difference between this style and say, KC & the Sunshine Band.
'Heart of Glass' was only the set-up for the knock-out punch delivered in late 1980 -
Gary Numan's 'Cars'.
"Oh, synthesizer you say? Well by all means, have some of this!"
I was awash in a Sonic Ocean and there was no land to speak of.
Keyboards WERE the band, certainly the other instruments were present, but now this was their time to shine, futuristic, precise and all consuming, I could not get enough of this song and I had to find more from this artist. Even the album, 'The Pleasure Principle' hinted at science and no emotion, purchased, I devoured it and then started on to the back catalog.
Eventually, it turned out that Messr Numan began as a punk rock musician and to my listening ear, had managed to go from playing an expression of raw emotion to a modular, self contained android which only served to heighten my admiration. I had to have everything Numan (even his stage moniker bespoke of a new type of humanoid) and furiously sought out whatever my budget allowed.
To this day, I remain a fan of his, although I did taper off after his transition away from the Man/Machine phase but still keep a high regard for his music.
I will still play and sing along to 'Telekon', 'Are Friends Electric?' and Tubeway Army recordings, fondly recalling the time my musical horizons expanded slightly wider and into a Future I couldn't clearly envision until the release of 'Blade Runner' in 1982, but that's a whole other Ball of Wires-



Thanks for putting this together Schatzie and glad you were the first guest here.