Severin Matusek

In fact, this points to something deeper than a mere recession, i.e. a cyclical downturn. Perhaps we’re looking at a secular change: a structural reordering of what “creative work” even means. The trad creative economies of ideas, taste, and differentiation are being replaced by economies of scale, prediction and synthesis. In this regime,... See more

What’s notable is the rhetoric about Sora introducing a Cambrian explosion of human creativity. Liberated from the bottlenecks of charisma, skill and craft, real creativity – i.e ideas – can now flourish and be channeled via text prompt.

The creative recession is fueled both by diminishing demand for creative work as well as diminishing the margins that once made that work viable. The distance between creation and consumption has been compressed: discovery is automated, and the legacy hallmark of creatives, producing difference, has been flattened into an infinite scroll of... See more

It seems that everyone immediately knows what we’re talking about (possibly including you, the reader) but here are some examples to paint a picture:

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Introducing the TBPN Media Market Map. Understanding the evolving media landscape can be confusing, even bewildering. From Neo Trad Media to the East Coast Underground, we put together a simple market map to help make sense of it all. https://t.co/J7SSaDiXPl

What, if anything, about this structure can and should change? We feel drawn to two ideas that feel deeply intertwined:

1) Increasing creative agency

2) Increasing economic control

By increasing creative agency , we mean freedom for creative people to move between quadrants. Artist, Creator, Institutional Artist, and Commercial Artist are all... See more

Creative work by inspiration is seen as unpaid and without value. Creative work for commercial purposes is worth compensation if it meets the brief. Institutions remain the primary mediators of payment, whether they're museums, corporations, or technology platforms.