52% of all online artists and 59% of Paid Online Artists say they get ideas and inspiration for their work from searching online.Many site specific gains in their careers from their use of the internet. More than three-quarters of all artists, 77%, and 83% of Paid Artists use the internet, compared to 63% of the entire population. They are considerably more wired than the rest of the American population. “Musicians” are those self-identified musical performers and songwriters who responded to our online survey (and are further divided for analysis into four subcategories in Part 3).Īmerican artists have embraced the internet as a creative and inspiration-enhancing workspace where they can communicate, collaborate, and promote their work. music or pictures or words) has been digitized. “Digitized Artists” are those whose artwork (e.g. “Paid Artists” are musicians, writers or filmmakers in our artist callback survey who get compensation for their art. “Artists” are those who described themselves as artists and were interviewed in our artist callback survey. Throughout this report we refer to several groups and often focus on those who are online.
#77 million paintings download free
They are the ones whose work is most directly affected by the technology that allows works of art to be digitized and sold online – from music to movies to books to art – and allows for easy copying and free sharing of those digitized files. Their passions, and in many cases their livelihoods, depend on public policies that encourage creativity and reward creation. These are the people on the front lines in the Digital Age. The Pew Internet Project survey suggests that up to 10 million Americans earn at least some money from their performances, songs, paintings, videos, sculptures, photos or creative writing. There are 32 million Americans who consider themselves artists and more than three times as many who pursue some sort of artistic endeavors in their lives, according to a survey fielded in November-December 2003 by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. Below are some of the key findings.ģ2 million Americans consider themselves artists and about 10 million of them get some kind of compensation for their creations and performances. The Pew Internet & American Life Project undertook this work to gain a deeper understanding of the views of musicians and other artists and in order to bring more voices from the arts community into the national discussions about copyright and online file-sharing. Third, questions about copyright and file-sharing were included in a nationally-representative, random-digit-dial survey of 2,013 American adults (18 and older). Still, this extensive and wide-ranging survey brings thousands of new voices from a broad range of experiences and levels of income into the debate about online file-sharing. These online respondents are likely to be more enthusiastic about the internet and more knowledgeable about policy issues than other musicians. The sample is self-selecting and not projectable onto the entire U.S. Our analysis focuses on 2,755 musicians and songwriters within that sample. Second, we administered a non-random online survey of 2,793 musicians, songwriters and music publishers distributed through musician membership organizations that was conducted on the Web. Three core research instruments were employed for this report: First, we conducted a random and nationally representative telephone survey of 809 American adults who said they are artists. In a period when thousands of lawsuits have been filed against those who are alleged to have shared files illegally and there is daily discussion about the possibility of changes in law, the Pew Internet & American Life Project undertook this work to survey a wide array of artists and musicians to hear about their views and experiences. Across the board, artists and musicians are more likely to say that the internet has made it possible for them to make more money from their art than they are to say it has made it harder to protect their work from piracy or unlawful use. However, the vast majority do not see online file-sharing as a big threat to creative industries. They use the internet to gain inspiration, build community with fans and fellow artists, and pursue new commercial activity.Īrtists and musicians believe that unauthorized peer-to-peer file-sharing of copyrighted works should be illegal. Unique surveys assess how artists and musicians use the internet, what they think about copyright issues, and how they feel about online file-sharing.Ī national survey of self-described artists and an online survey of 2,755 musicians find:Īrtists and musicians on all points of the spectrum from superstars to starving singers have embraced the internet as a tool to improve how they make, market, and sell their creative works.