How artists can (finally) get paid in the digital age | Jack Conte

翻译人员: Ivy Sun 校对人员: Kai Lu

Hi everyone.

大家好

So, I'm going to take us back to 2007.

现在我要带大家回到2007年

I'd just spent about six months working on album

我刚刚花费六个月的 时间在一张专辑上

that I'd poured my heart and my soul into,

一张让我倾尽心力的专辑

and it was getting about three plays per day on Myspace at the time,

这张专辑在聚友网(Myspace)上 每天大概会被播放三次

and I was getting more and more depressed when I started noticing these other people

当我看到其他用吉他自弹自唱的人 将他们的视频放到

一个叫YouTube的新兴网站上

who were playing guitar and singing

并且得到了30万的浏览量

and putting videos on this new site called YouTube,

and they were getting 300,000 views.

我开始变得越来越沮丧

So I decided I'm going to start making some Youtube videos.

所以我决定也开始 做一些YouTube视频

And one day they featured a video of my band on the homepage,

有一天 YouTube在它们的主页上 放了一个我们乐队的视频

which was amazing -- we got a bunch of new fans.

那个视频非常精彩 我们因此得到了一大票新粉丝

We also got a bunch of people

还有和一大帮人

who, I guess, just didn't really like the music or something --

我猜他们并不喜欢我们的音乐之类的

(Laughter)

（笑声）

It's OK because people started coming to our shows,

不过没关系 因为人们 开始来看我们的表演了

and we started touring,

我们也开始进行巡演

and we came out with a record.

我们创造了一个记录

And when I checked our bank account balance

当我查看银行账户余额的时候

after our first monthly iTunes payout,

iTunes第一个月收入结算显示

we had 22,000 bucks in it,

我们有了2万2千美元的进账

which was amazing because at the time I was living at my dad's house,

太不可思议了 因为那会儿 我还住在我爸的房子里呢

trying to make a living as a musician by uploading videos to the internet

上传视频到网上去 试图以艺术家的身份谋生

which literally zero people respected in 2009 --

在2009年的时候没多少人买账

even the people who were uploading videos to the internet.

甚至自己上传视频 到网上的人对此也并不乐观

And so for the next four years,

接下来的四年

I uploaded more and more videos to the Internet,

我上传了越来越多的视频到互联网上

and they got better and better,

这些视频也越来越好

and we made enough money through brand deals

通过品牌交易广告和iTunes的销量

and commercials and iTunes sales

我们赚了足够的钱

to buy a house.

买下了一所房子

And we built a recording studio.

我们还建了一个录音室

But there was one big problem:

但还有一个大问题

making money as a creative person in 2013 was super weird.

作为一个创作人去赚大钱 在2013年是非常古怪的

First of all, the business models were changing all the time.

首先 商业模式在一直变化

所以我们每年5万8千美元的 iTunes下载收入

So our 58,000 dollars of annual iTunes download income

was about to be replaced by about 6,000 dollars of streaming income.

将会被6千美元的在线播放收入所取代

Steams paid less than downloads.

在线播放比下载付钱更少

And then as more and more creators started popping up online,

随着越来越多的创作者在网上涌现

there was just more competition for these five-figure brand deals

五位数的品牌交易 有了越来越多的竞争

that had kept the band afloat for years.

而这正是我们乐队 一直赖以生存的基础

And to top it all off, our videos themselves --

而最重要的是 我们的视频本身

the creative stuff that we made that our fans loved and appreciated --

我们创作的被粉丝所喜爱欣赏的 有创作力的作品

that were actually contributing value to the world,

也是我们为这个世界带来的贡献

those videos were generating almost zero dollars of income for us.

那些视频却几乎没有 为我们带来任何收入

This is an actual snapshot of my YouTube dashboard

这是我YouTube面板的真实截图

在28天中

from a 28-day period

that shows one million views

100万的观看量

and 166 dollars of ad earnings for those views.

以及从这些观看中获得的 166美元广告收入

The whole machine in 2013

在2013年 这一整个机制

that took art online and outputted money

将艺术放到网上来赚钱

was totally nonfunctional.

完全没有用

It doesn't matter if you're a newspaper,

无论你是经营报纸

or an institution,

或者一个机构

or an independent creator.

还是一个独立的创作者

A monthly web comic with 20,000 monthly readers --

一个有两万名读者的 每月更新的网络漫画

20,000 monthly readers --

两万个读者

gets paid a couple hundred bucks in ad revenue.

只会得到几百美元的广告收入

This is 20,000 people.

这是两万人的访问量啊

Like, in what world is this not enough?

在什么样的世界里 这个数字还不够（赚大钱）

I don't understand.

我完全不理解

What systems have we built where this is insufficient

我们创造了个什么样的体系 让这还不足以

for a person to make a living?

独立支撑一个人的生存

So, I actually have a theory about this.

事实上我对这一点有一套理论

I think it's been a weird 100 years.

我认为这100年来都很怪异

(Laughter)

（笑声）

(Applause)

（掌声）

About 100 years ago,

大约一百年前

humans figured out how to record sound onto a wax cylinder.

人类研究出了怎样在蜡桶上记录声音

That was the beginning of the phonograph.

这是留声机的起源

大约在同一时间

Right around the same time,

我们发现了怎样将光记录 在一张相纸上

we figured out how to record light onto a piece of photographic paper,

赛璐珞（电影胶片） 标志着电影和电视时代的开始

celluloid -- the beginning of film and television.

For the first time, you could store art on a thing,

我们第一次可以将艺术 储存在一个事物上

which was amazing.

这是非常不可思议的

Art used to be completely ephemeral,

艺术过去常常是转瞬即逝的

so if you missed the symphony, you just didn't get to hear the orchestra.

如果你错过了交响乐音乐会 你就听不到乐团的演出了

But now, for the first time,

而现在 前所未有的

you could store the orchestra's performance on a physical object,

你可以将乐队的演出储存在 一个实物上了

and like, listen to it later,

并且可以以后再听

which was amazing.

非常不可思议

It was so amazing in fact,

事实上简直太不可思议了

that for the next 100 years, between 1900 and 2000,

所以接下来的100年 从1900到2000年

humans built just billions and billions of dollars of infrastructure

人们在基础设施建设上 花了数以亿计的钱

to essentially help artists do two things.

基本上是在帮助艺术家做两件事

First, put their art on a thing,

第一件 将艺术放在一件物体上

and second, get that thing around the world

第二件 让这件物体传遍全世界

to the people who wanted the art.

去给那些想要艺术的人

So, so much industry is devoted to these two problems.

太多太多的产业 都专注于这两件事了

Oh my gosh, there are trucking companies,

我的天 还包括货物运输公司

and brick-and-mortar and marketing firms, and CD jewel case manufacturers,

实体和营销公司 还有CD盒制造公司

all devoted to these two problems.

全都致力于这两件事

And then we all know what happened.

接下来我们都知道发生了什么

10 years ago, the internet matures

10年前 因特网变得成熟

and we get Spotify and Facebook and YouTube

我们有了Spotify Facebook YouTube

and iTunes and Google search,

iTunes和谷歌搜索

and a hundred years of infrastructure

百年的基础设施

and supply chains and distribution systems

供应链和分配系统

and monetization schemes

货币化方案

are completely bypassed --

在十年中

in a decade.

在设计出这些事物的100年后

After 100 years of designing these things,

就这样被完全地被绕过了

it's no wonder that it's just totally broken for creative people right now.

难怪对创作者来说它完全失效了

It's no wonder that the monetization part of the chain doesn't work

难怪产业链中的货币化部分 在这种新的背景下

given this new context.

失去了作用

But what gets me super excited to be a creator right now,

而作为一名当今的创作者

to be alive today and be a creative person right now,

现在使我感到非常兴奋的是

is realizing that we're only 10 years into figuring out this new machine --

是意识到我们才刚刚花费了十年 去探寻这个新的机制

to figuring out the next 100 years of infrastructure for our creators.

为我们的创作者 搭建未来100年的基础设施

And you can tell we're only 10 years in.

你可以看出我们才仅仅开始十年

There's a lot of trial and error, some really good ideas forming,

有很多的尝试和错误 也有一些非常好的观点逐渐形成

进行了许多实验

a lot of experimentation.

我们正在搞清什么有用 什么没有用

We're figuring out what works and what doesn't.

Like Twitch streamers. Who's heard of Twitch?

就像Twitch流平台 谁听过Twitch

Twitch streamers are making three to five thousand bucks a month

Twitch用户每个月能得到 3千到5千美元

通过上传游戏视频

streaming gaming content.

The big ones are making over 100,000 dollars a year.

厉害的人每年能赚超过10万美元

There's a site called YouNow,

有一个网站叫YouNow

it's an app.

它是一个应用程序

It allows musicians and vloggers to get paid in digital goods from fans.

它让音乐家和视频博主 通过虚拟道具从粉丝那里赚钱

So, I'm also working on the problem.

所以我也在研究这个问题

Four years ago I started a company called Patreon

四年前我和我的一个朋友

with a friend of mine.

开了一家叫Patreon的公司

We're 80 people now working on this problem.

我们现在有80个人在研究这个问题

It's basically a membership platform

它本质上是一个会员平台

that makes it really easy for creators to get paid --

一个让创作者非常容易 得到报酬的平台

every month from their fans to earn a living.

他们每月从粉丝那里赚钱来维持生活

For a creator, it's like having a salary for being a creative person.

对于创作者来说就像 拿着薪水去成为一个有创造力的人

And this is one of our creators.

这是我们的创作者之一

They're called "Kinda Funny."

他们叫做 有点搞笑

They have about 220,000 subscribers on YouTube.

他们在YouTube上 有大约22万的订阅者

And when they upload a video,

当他们上传一个视频时

it gets somewhere around 15,000 views to 100,000 views.

大约会得到1万5到10万的浏览量

I want you to check yourselves right now.

我想请大家现在想想

I think when we hear numbers like that, when we hear "15,000 views,"

当我们听到那样的数字 听到 1万5的浏览量

and we see content like this,

并且看到了这样的内容

we just snap categorize it as being not as legitimate

我们会立刻认为这不合理

as a morning show that you'd hear on the radio

就像你在收音机听到的晨间节目

or a talk show that you'd see on NBC or something

或者是你在NBC之类听到的脱口秀

But when "Kinda Funny" launched on Patreon,

但是当 有点搞笑 在Patreon上推出

within a few weeks, they were making 31,000 dollars per month

在几周之内他们就能够 平均每月赚到3万1千美元

for this show.

就靠这个节目

It took off so fast that they decided to expand their programming

它发展得太快了以致于 他们决定扩展节目规划

and add new shows,

并且增添新的节目

and now they launched a second Patreon page --

然后现在他们有了第二个Patreon主页

they're making an additional 21,000 dollars per month.

每个月他们可以额外赚到2万1千美元

And they're scaling what's essentially becoming a media company,

他们已经扩张到差不多 成为一家媒体公司了

financing the whole thing through membership.

所有的资金都来自于会员制度

OK, here's another example.

这是另一个例子

This is Derek Bodner,

这是Derek Bodner

a sports journalist who used to write for Philadelphia Magazine

一个曾为费城杂志撰稿的体育记者

until a few months ago when the magazine cut out all sports coverage.

几个月之前这家杂志 删掉了所有的体育新闻报道

Now he writes articles and publishes them on his own website --

现在他在自己的网站上 创作并且发布文章

他仍然报道体育 但是是为了他自己

he's still covering sports, but for himself.

And he's making 4,800 bucks a month from 1,700 patrons,

现在他每月从1700位会员那里 赚到4800美元

financing it through membership.

通过会员制度赚钱

This is Crash Course --

这是速成班

free educational content for the world.

提供免费的教育内容给全世界

This show is actually on the PBS digital network --

这个节目在PBS数字网络上播出

29,000 dollars per month.

每月2万9千美元收入

This is a duo sailing around the world,

而这两人航行全世界

getting paid every month for documenting their travels

通过记录他们的旅行获得收益

有1400位会员

from 1,400 patrons.

This is a podcast, "Chapo Trap House", making --

这个播客 城市陷阱屋 能赚到

actually, since I screenshotted this,

实际上自从我截了这个图

they're making an additional 2,000 dollars per month,

他们每个月能多赚2千美元

so they're now making 56,000 dollars per month for their podcast.

所以他们现在通过博客 每月能赚取5万6千美元

And Patreon's not the only one working on the problem.

Patreon不是唯一一个 研究这个问题的平台

Even Google's starting to work on this.

甚至谷歌也在研究它

A couple years ago, they launched Fan Funding;

几年前他们推出了 粉丝众筹

more recently, they launched Super Chat

最后又推出了 超级聊天

as a way for creators to monetize live streaming.

作为一种能将创作者的 直播流变现的途径

Newspapers are starting to experiment with membership.

报纸也开始尝试会员制

New York Times has a membership program;

纽约时报有一个会员项目

The Guardian has over 200,000 paying subscribers

卫报有超过20万的付费订阅者

to its membership program.

在它的会员项目中

There's this bubbling soup of ideas and experiments

现在想法 实验 进步就像

and progress right now,

滚汤中上涌的气泡

and it's pointing in the direction of getting creators paid.

并且它指出了能让创作者赚钱的方向

And it's working.

并且效果很不错

It's not, like, perfect yet,

虽然它现在还不完美

but it's really working.

但效果很明显

So, Patreon has over 50,000 creators on the platform making salaries --

现在Patreon上有超过5万个创作者 在这个平台上赚取薪水

getting paid every month for putting art online,

通过将艺术放到网上 来得到每月收入

for being a creative person.

去成为一个创作者

The next hundred years of infrastructure is on the way

未来一百年的基础建设正在进行中

and it's going to be different this time because of this --

并且这次它将变得不同 因为这个

because of the direct connection between the person who makes the thing

这个在创作者和追随者之间

and the person who likes the thing.

建立的直接联系

About seven or eight years ago,

大概七八年前

I went to a cocktail party.

我去参加一个鸡尾酒派对

This is when the band had hit our first machine,

那时乐队第一次使用这种机制

so things were really cranking.

万事开头难

We had just made about 400,000 dollars in one year

我们刚刚在一年之内赚到40万美元

through iTunes sales and brand deals and stuff like that.

通过iTunes销量和品牌交易等途径

And this guy comes up to me and says,

这家伙来到我面前说

"Hey, Jack, what do you do?"

你好 杰克 你是做什么的

I said, "I'm a musician."

我说 我是一个音乐家

And he just sobered up immediately,

他立刻变得严肃起来

and he stuck out his hand,

然后他伸出一只手

put a hand on my shoulder,

另一只手搭在我的肩膀上

and in a real earnest, very nice voice he was like,

用非常认真，友好的语气说

"I hope you make it someday."

我希望你某一天会成功

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And ...

还有

I have so many moments like that logged in my memory.

我记忆里有太多相似的时刻了

I just cringe thinking of that.

我一想到这些就会有些怯懦

It's so embarrassing to just not feel valued as a creative person.

作为一个创作者却不被认为有价值 这实在是太尴尬了

But as a species,

但是作为一个物种

we are leaving that cocktail party behind.

我们正在将那个鸡尾酒派对抛到脑后

We're leaving that culture,

我们正在远离那种文化

we're out of there.

离开那个圈子

We're going to get so good at paying creators,

在10年之内 我们会越来越擅长

within 10 years,

为创作者支付报酬

kids graduating high school and college are going to think of being a creator

孩子们从中学和大学毕业后 也会将成为一名创作者

as just being an option --

当作一个选项

I could be a doctor, I could be a lawyer,

我可以成为一个医生 我可以成为一个律师

I could be a podcaster, I could have a web comic.

我可以成为一个播主 我可以开一个网络漫画

It's just going to be something you can do.

它将是一件你可以去做的事

We're figuring it out.

我们正在努力

It's going to be a viable and sustainable and respected profession.

它会成为一个可行的 可持续的 并受到尊敬的职业

Creators are going to come out the other end of this weird 100 years,

创作者将从这奇怪的百年 这个世纪之旅的

this century-long journey,

另一端走出来

with an awesome new machine.

伴随着一个绝妙的新机制

And they're going to be paid, and they're going to be valued.

他们将会获得报酬 他们将会受到重视

Thanks, everybody.

谢谢大家

(Applause)

（掌声）

I think it went pretty well.

我认为讲得非常不错

I want artists who saw that to not give up --

我想让看到它的艺术家们不要放弃

to know that we're getting there.

让他们知道我们正在改变现状

It's not there yet,

现在还没有完全实现

but in a couple years,

但在未来的几年内

there will be so many systems and tools for them

会有更多的体系和工具出现

to just make a living online,

使他们可以在网络上谋生

and if they've got a podcast that's starting to take off,

如果他们已经有了一个播客 开始跃跃欲试

but they're not able to make money on it yet,

但目前还不能够通过这个赚钱

that's happening

这很正常

and they're going to be paid.

但他们以后会赚到钱的

It's happening.

指日可待