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Hello everyone,

I would really like to hear your opinion on something!!

Recently one of the artists I admire a lot (musician) has hold a TED talk about the artist-admirer relationship in respect of making money. A message of hers is not to force the audience to pay for your work (related to digital copies of her music so that there are no material costs) but to offer it for free and let them decide what to pay in the end because if they love it they will want to support you.
She holds the opinion that this creates a more personal relationship between artist and viewer base because it shows the audience: I trust you. Feel free to enjoy my work. If you like, please help me. Thank you!

Furthermore she says if you let people enjoy your works then those who love you will be willing (bad grammar, I know) to help you.
She has made a lot fo experiences with this, working as a living statue for I think five years (which entirely is based on this concept) and raising the money for her album with a very successful kickstarter.

Now, I'm wondering: Would you pay for something that you had already "consumed"?
Would you pay to receive a copy of a comic you had already read?
Would you buy the physical copy of a book you had already read?
Would you buy an album if you had already listened to the songs?
If you saw that the artist was trustworthy and really cared about their audience would you give them donations for them to make a living in exchange for them giving their work for free?

Or do you think the magic is gone after experiencing some work of art once so paying money would be useless for you?

Before you wonder, no I'm not planning a project or anything.
But I'm really curious about it, to be honest the question makes my head spin and once I've digged myself into a question I want to solve it. How do we as audience feel? Is this a good concept? Is this the future and the old art and music industry that claims to be dying really is dying because of its (old?) marketing concepts? Or do you think people wouldn't pay on their own will even if you offered them your works for free (digitally because physical goodies have to cover material costs obviously).


For me I see myself doing both. There are some things I love so much that I just want to possess them. I need to >>own<< them. Yes, greedy me!! But on the other hand I have also watched animes and read manga on the internet that I found ok/nice but wouldn't buy them afterwards. I feel bad because I haven't given the artist anything in return despite watching/reading their works. But after experiencing their story I just couldn't love it enough to spend money on it.
So, I'm torn on this.


But how about you? Would you support an artist by the "living statue with a milk can to toss some coin into" principle? Would you donate to them, who let you experience their art for free, because you see their work and love it and want to support them?