Ever wonder the difference between an Artist and a Creator? Well, this long-read post by Yancey Strickler caught my eye this week.
Yancey is a writer and entrepreneur whose work supports artists and creative people. He's the cofounder and Director of Metalabel, a project that helps creative people cooperate rather than compete, and Artist Corporations, a new legal structure for creative work. He's also the cofounder and former CEO of Kickstarter.
Yancey's article does a great job not only illuminating the difference between artists & creators. For instance, unlike artists, creators are explicitly commercial in what they do.
An artist is a self-directed artistic expressor. They work for themselves and express what they want. There’s no one beyond their anxiety looking over their shoulder telling them what to do.
A creator is a self-directed market expressor. Everything they do has a commercial aim at its core, but they answer to themselves and their audience. Rather than a traditional boss, they have an algorithmic one that implicitly and explicitly shapes their output.
That being said, Yancey's overarching point is that creator-artists and artist-creators need better control of their destinies. He proposes the idea of the A (Artist) Corporation. It is a new kind of corporate entity that can receive a wide variety of revenue sources (all areas of the above quadrant); enable resource pooling (like group health insurance); and make the creation of collective ownership and shares for creative work possible for the first time.
Pretty compelling and certainly admirable to advocate for those making the art & content we all consume, but that is so rarely compensated fairly. What do you think?
Thank you for reading & have a good week,
Jon
p.s.
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December
- 🇳🇱 3 Wheelrunner Wednesday Ride (Weekly at 6:30am)
- 🇳🇱 5 Rotterdam Six Days
- 🇳🇱 6 Gravaa Group Ride
- 🇳🇱 7 AMS CX COMP | ARC ULYSSES
- 🇳🇱 12 Twotone 11 Year Party | Food, beverages, tattoos & live music!
- 🇳🇱 14 AMS CX COMP | ASC OLYMPIA – SPORTPARK SLOTEN
- 🇳🇱 20 AMS CX COMP | ZWC DTS (Evening Edition!)
- 🇳🇱 31 AMS CX COMP | WV AMSTERDAM – SPORTPARK SLOTEN
January
- 🇳🇱 4 AMS CX COMP | UWTC – UITHOORN
- 🇧🇪 16-18 Velofollies
Bikes
Moustache's New Dimanche & Our Trip To The Bardenas Reales
Last week, Moustache launched their latest iteration of the Dimanche 29 Gravel. More clips from the trip here & here. Full scoop in the Twotone newsroom! In case you missed it, I took a DImanche to Scotland this summer with my son for Grinduro & it was the perfect bike!
Gravaa's Rad Times At Rouleur, Beach Racing & Velofollies!
Dotwatcher's Gift Guide for Ultracyclists
Ideas
Daniel Ting Chong’s Brand Identity For Onguza Bicycles
Study: Adventure cycling one of top choices for improving mental health
Simon Yuen
This is me. I'm there to take in the views and not turn the screws! Hyped for Taurus next year!
How changing tattoo culture reflects a quiet shift in Japan
Friends
Back to Basics: Cycling as an Evolving Journey
Melissa Bruntlett is on a Mission to Make the World More Bike-Friendly
Hélène Fromenty on Her First MTB Ultra, Trans Pyrenees & Bikes as a Way of Life
Hélène has had some awesome adventures this year! Hear about them here.
Radness
My Step-Son, Errol's band, Amber Decay's Recent Gig
Thank you for reading!
Here's to having a blast,
even if you come in last this week!