I think we really need to address the obsession with social media engagement and success as artists.

I think there is an expectation in artists that we can all live an influencer or youtuber lifestyle off our art & it is incredibly unrealistic & toxic.

‘It’s not the same!’ Really? Influencers rely on social media engagement to fund their lifestyle, to ‘work’. There is a definite expectation in many artists that social media engagement for their art will work the same way. There’s an air of delusion because while there ARE many

artists that are making a living attributed to social media engagement, it DOES NOT mean ALL OF US CAN. If you can READILY accept that not everybody can be an influencer or a YouTuber then it’s not a really hard concept to grasp.

Social media is an amazing tool and artists should be using it thoughtfully as an asset to getting known.

However, popularity does not always translate to success and it does not always translate to financial success at that, either.

There is also a marked obsession in the community with gaining popularity and engagement over honing your skills.

You should be doing BOTH.

But again, trying to make a living off social media engagement and popularity is a) very difficult and b) unrealistic.

‘But so many other artists do it! That’s unfair! Why can’t I?’

There’s tons of influencers and YouTubers as well. Why can’t we all be influencers and YouTubers?