I posted this in an art discord & they said it should be a post so others (both non-artists & artists) could see it too, so I'm pasting it here with a just few edits to add context:
Having feelings about capitalism and art.
Like, got an unexpected Redbubble sale today. Unexpected because I genuinely never expected to see another after I took some advice and did the whole "raise your margins to 50% in protest so people will use Redbubble less because 'prices are too high'"
(For those unaware, Redbubble is introducing a tier structure for artist accounts, where Redbubble will now be taking up to 50% of an artist's monthly earnings as an "account fee" if they end up in the "Standard" tier. Artists are upset about this and are finding various ways to protest the change.)
And it got me thinking about margins, and what it takes to run the company, and how much CEO's take home and just-
Ok so say base price for a product is $10. If your margin is 20% it sells for $12 and you take home $2. Redbubble takes 80%, and uses that to buy materials/print/pay workers. Ok, no argument. I want workers to be fairly compensated.
But you look it up, and the highest paid Redbubble executive makes $950,000 a year.
Average executive salary is around $235,000 a year.
You can't really find the info for the positions of workers (meaning those who labor to print the products) only that "the lowest compensated makes $34,000" -aka roughly $16 an hour at 40hrs a week.
And good on them for paying the workers a decent wage if this info is correct. Hope they keep it up. Or pay them more even.
But then I keep coming back to the fact that the company needs the artists' work to even exist. So why, if the CEO is making nearly a million dollars a year and the company obviously isn't hurting for any money to compensate it's workers or run itself, why does everyone make artists feel greedy just for asking to not have our cut eaten into with added fees? Why are we made to feel bad if we express any disappointment that a CEO makes so much money off the designs of so many artists in comparison to the artists' cut?
Idk how to say it right. It's like we're just expected to collectively fork over our work, let someone else get obscenely rich off it while we make barely anything from it (or in the case of many social media platforms, make literally nothing from it), then then smile about it. Anything else is seen as artists being entitled or 'lazy' or idk what else.
Or we're told to "just raise your margins" like competitive pricing isn't a thing that exists. Not to mention that fact that whenever prices do go up, especially with art, those same people complain that the prices went up and look for something cheaper.
I always see people saying that artists are just jealous that they don't make more sales, or saying "well maybe you'd make more if your art was better" but they're completely missing the whole point that is: Maybe if a company literally depends on the creative 'content' of individuals to exist/profit, maybe don't treat them all as disposable?
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Featuring my Redbubble design, "Let Her Game". A design inspired by the 'Let Him Cook' meme. Whether she's playing Harvest Moon and trying to woo the person she wants, playing Rune Factory 4 and fighting through Arc 3, playing COD, etc. just wait. Let her game.
Click the link below for this beautiful sticker:
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Merch Announcement!
I'm very happy to announce you can now buy my designs based on It's a Spectrum from Redbubble!
You can get stickers, badges, shirts and more! There's also a sale on at the moment so you could get up to 40% off :) And if you order soon it should arrive in time for Christmas 🎄🎄🎄
I'm particularly pleased with my emotion stickers! I think they'll be useful for pointing to when I can't put how I'm feeling into words :) I'm hoping to add more different emotions as well.
If you'd like to buy any of these designs for yourself or as a gift, click here.
As always thank you so much for your support! Let me know if you have any feedback or suggestions :)
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The high priestess represents profound wisdom, intuition, the ability to navigate hidden realms, the deep connection to the subconscious mind and the exploration of the mysterious realms of the human psyche. Just as the high priestess taps into her intuitive powers to access hidden truths, cockroaches rely on their heightened sensory perception to navigate dark and hidden spaces. They possess an uncanny ability to detect subtle changes in their environment and swiftly adapt to survive. They are a reminder to trust our intuition, tap into our inner wisdom, embrace the depths of our subconscious to overcome obstacles in our own lives and confront any shadows or unresolved issues within ourselves.
Prints are available on Redbubble and Inprnt
Instagram
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Available Images
Hey everyone!
I was meant to post something like this ages ago, but better late than never! These are what are currently available on my Redbubble store, with more being added regularly.
As always, feel free to check my store out!
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