My first sales!

My first sales for postcards go to Yenn.... Arigato Gozaimasu...

My first Tee sale goes to Jubilee14..... Arigato Gozaimasu.....

Doomo Arigato Gozaimasu to both......

And as a preview, here is the tee for Jubilee...

The front:


And the back: ( Yup, Don't Just Be a Black Sheep )


Coming up with more psychedelic sheep designs. I'm hung up on them for some reason...

Have also printed Yenn's cards, but now having stupid problems with printer formatting. The cards came out slightly wai, which resulted in more curses from me to the printer. ( I know cursing at it doesn't always work, but I could always try, and it makes me feel better )

Also went shopping last night at the Stationery shop at Funan for more supplies. Almost went high at the sight of all that stationery. Tshirt paper! Postcard paper! 50 different kinds of notebooks! Sketchbooks! Paints! *Pant pant pant* Now you know just how much of a geek I am... And if you think this is bad, you should have seen me at Artfriends at Bras Basah...

Does Piracy Kill Creativity?

That's what the following postcards will have you believe:



The postcards were printed by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore, ( Who else? ) and also by Power 98 ( The Official Hip Station ). The words on the back of both cards read:

"The movies you watch with friends on Sunday afternoon. Those cult movies you see at midnight. The music video you're addicted to, and that cool sound you party to on Saturday night. They all started with an idea, from someone just like you. To make your life more fun. Do the right thing. Each time you reject piracy, you encourage creativity. Whose weekend do you think that will affect? Yours. Be creative. Be original. Be hip."

Now this is the strangest premise for rejecting piracy I've ever seen. That piracy kills creativity?

Let's get one thing clear. People aren't going to stop producing art because they don't make money from it. Well, some people might, but to insinuate that piracy would bring about the downfall of the entire art sphere is bringing it a mite too far. Art has already survived for almost thousands of years, ever since civilisation was first formed. Through prehistory, ( You think cavemen paid to see those paintings? ) BC, and to AD.

Throughout this period, it has survived decay, persecution, recessions, wars, and natural disasters. I hardly think that piracy can bring about a complete stop to all this.

In fact, the ones that have been most affected by the onset of piracy were the major record companies. I don't even think the major movie companies were that affected, because the revenue they earn from movies pales in comparison to the amounts made by merchandising and DVD sales. The partners in the RIAA also consist of the major record companies, because it's just so much cheaper to download them than to buy the entire CD.

But does that mean that people won't do music anymore? Look around you, and you will see that music, and the love thereof, still exists in many quarters. Just last night, at the Esplanade, I watched a band from West Malaysia perform free by the waterfront. On the way home, I switched on my radio to listen to music on the way home. At home, I strum a few chords on the guitar.

People love music. And people who truly love music will not by deterred by piracy. In fact, there are many independent bands nowadays who exist for the pure sake of composing and performing music. They play in bars, the odd public space, or they post their songs on the Internet. Piracy hasn't deterred these people, nor has it deterred people like me, who enjoy the odd piano piece or guitar piece once in a while.

Who are the ones deterred by piracy? The ones who get into it for the love of the money, of the publicity. These are the ones who stand to lose the most from falling CD sales. Boybands like North, *shudder* 5 pretty boys from Australia, who can sing at a pretty decent standard, and whose first single was a cover of an old song. ( Didn't someone tell them that the trend for covers had died long ago? ) I'm hoping that one day Britney Spears will also drop out of the industry for the same reason.

And if you look at CD sales, artistes like Nelly and Norah Jones are still making music and making money from it as well. Both artistes have been recently acclaimed for the revival of the music industry.Cries of "They're killing us!" from the record companies have been exposed for the pathetic squeals they really are. People are still buying CDs, just not buying the stuff that they think we like.

Somewhere out there, there are a bunch of music marketing and artiste execs looking for jobs, and wondering where they went wrong.

And that's just the record industry. Look at the rest of the art world, and art pretty much still survives. People still draw, paint, sing, compose, dance, act. If nothing, I think that piracy actually encourages creativity.

Looking at an example i'm more familiar with, check out www.megatokyo.com Fred Gallagher has created a fantastic comic which is posted free on the Internet for everyone to download. Gosh! What a travesty! Is he still in business? Yes, Megatokyo has survived, gained a cult following, [yours included] and he and his newlywed wife have gone into maintaining the website fulltime.

So how do they survive? Though the online comic is free, they also sell book versions of it to stores all around the world. [copies can even be found in Kino] They also travel the states, promoting their comics at conventions nationwide, and they have an online store selling related merchandise. Posting their comic free for viewing means they have to come up with alternative sources of revenue, which they have done admirably.

The key thing here is quality. And not just product quality, but also brand quality. They've created a comic that is loved by many, and that has became a brand on its own. For that, people are willing to pay for their products. [except me, poor starving artist, though I'll love to get my hands on the books] It's sorta like me giving out my Funny Farm designs free, but if you want them on postcards or T-shirts, pay me and I'll do them for you. [hint hint]

I guess if you really love what you're doing, and you hand out good stuff, there will be people who would like to pay for what you do. If you just want the quick buck, then people will sense it, and they won't be convinced to buy your stuff either.

In the end, piracy can only be good for creativity.