Ascap Daily Brief

Begging for Dollars

Today we’ll look at the meme that says artists should no longer try to make money off of their works, because in a virtual world they have no ownership of those works. We should take those works as we like and they can live off of other sources of income, including charity, i.e., a donation link on their web site. Fans who appreciate their work can pay them directly, avoiding the evil middle man.
Someone far wiser than me has shared her thoughts on the donation link with the world, and I would like to share her thoughts here. I have spent my adult life trying to emulate the lessons of Miss Manners, aka Judith Martin. Her latest column has a letter from a “moderately successful novelist” who has been convinced by her “friends” to put a “Donate” button on her web site. “I wasn’t initially comfortable with the idea of asking my fans to support me beyond buying my books — that ought to be plenty — but I eventually agreed, and it did help,” she writes. Still, after two years she remains uncomfortable with it, even as her “friends” are more insistent she continue to do this.
I ask Ms. Martin’s indulgence in quoting her entire response; she is so eloquent and clear with her writing that any paraphrasing would be an insult. The entire column is on The Washington Post web site:

As a novelist, you undoubtedly have a high respect for the correct use of words to reveal truth. And yet Miss Manners fears that you have adopted a euphemism to disguise from yourself the truth of what you have been doing.
“Donations” are given to institutions or charities that do good works. Individuals may earn money, as you do in selling books; they may receive it through grants to do work; they may inherit it; they may be given it in lieu of presents; they may find it on the street.
But the act of asking others to give you money simply because you are needy is called begging. It requires a sacrifice of pride, and therefore self-respecting people resort to it only if they are totally destitute.

The next time you tell a creator that you want their work without paying for it, but that they should get with the times and provide a way for you to donate to them if you feel so motivated, please keep in mind that the creator may in fact be schooled in good manners and not feel comfortable creating art in this economic model. Of course, that would require you to be able to see a situation from another’s perspective, and if you insist on having access to their creative work in ways they don’t agree with it’s already clear you are incapable of such perspective.
Oh, and Miss Manners has an unrelated gem from the same column. She tells a separate letter-writer “Miss Manners hopes you do not discover that being right does not always settle a marital argument.” Good advice for all husbands!