Individualism in the "Creative Industry"

Over the past week we have discussed Individualisation and individuals roles in creative industries. In particular to this blog post, user-lead content, and the question of whether its saturating the industry altogether, or driving it to prosper?

Both points, are of personal opinion, and can draw positives and negatives on both arguments. Where I stand on the matter is, well, right now where I am just about to emerge from the safety of college education and having (paid for) my safe grounds, where I go everyday, knowing to some extent what to expect from my course. So to come out from college where I have been thought the standard software tools for the industry, and expect, like some sort of conveyor belt-like system to be handed a job as soon as my foot is out the college doors, is quite naive. But its this what I (and probably a lot more people) would like to believe, that we have been thought enough to be able to acquire a job for myself, and this I guess is why its important to develop a unique individualality for myself, something that will draw me out from crowds, which leads me to say that, I believe that user-lead content is extremely important for me, as an artist at this moment in time. Without user-lead content in the industry it, it would be very hard (I would imagine) to actually get a job for what I want to do.

I say this because, the way it seems in creative industries, is that, work is passed off, or screened to individuals or freelancers by companies, looking for the best quality work for the least amount of money, always trying to find someone better. Making it a cut throat style of competition for work. There are already many people out there with this lifestyle, or occupation I should say, because in reality, this is what they do for a living, scratch by, trying to undermine another potential artist, but while trying not to sell themselves short. This is what makes the industry saturated, and I havn't even reached it yet.

But, with technology cheaper than it even has been, and completely accessable to everyone. Even software has become cheaper, and everyone is part of a global network, the world has never been closer. This means that young, fresh-out-of-college artists, like myself, stand a chance in a crowded industry, with portals such as Youtube and Vimeo, along with others, such as twitter, Flickr etc. Artists can now be heard and seen for their work, giving the poeple like myself a chance in a creative industry. That being said, the opportunity for cheap technology and accessable networks means that there is a lot of "noise" out there, and hard to filter out and acquire great work. But it means the opportunity is there for people like myself, who create their own content, and try hard to get themselves on as much social platforms as they can, to try and stick their head out of the crowd. This is why, right now, I believe that user lead content helps artists for the better, to drive and use the many networks and services on offer to show they are up to speed with latest trends, that they know what is happening, that they are current, and on top of the latest technology.

Although it is a good prospect for myslef now, the other argument is that in years to come, If/When I am working in the industry, and see (quite possibly more) platforms and areas of opportunity for younger talented artists to emerge to the industry, I might be against user-lead content and claim that it saturates quality work in an already saturated industry. So there is a double-edged sword to the topic, but as it stands, I believe that the opportunity that user-content offers is the doorway to my employment.