Quote:
Originally Posted by Ninjalawyer
In the past, you likely would have reached no audience, with the low barriers to entry of the web you can now reach a global audience with relative ease. You lose some control because of the openness of the web, but it's quite likely that you've gained far more than you've lost, even if you're not aware of it.
It's unfortunate though that your work hasn't been as successful as you think it should be, but with the web your chance of success has been that much greater.
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I agree completely. As Cory Doctorow once said, the biggest problem faced by most artists is not piracy, it's obscurity. Personally, I'd be thrilled if enough people liked my work enough to think it was worth pirating in the first place, and I would hope that it being spread far and wide enough, it would come in contact with people who liked it enough to consider purchasing future works of mine.
I have discovered artists and bands I really like through downloading some of their works, and then loving them enough to become a paying supporter of their future works. In fact, things like usenet and torrents are a great way to sample new artists without the risk of paying a lot of money for stuff you don't like. Because of this, I can sample books and songs that I would never find in a local library, due to space constraints.
To conclude, unless you are Stephen King or Bono, one needs to put more effort into becoming more known, and worry less about the very thing that is helping you become more known.