‘The Eiffel tower was met with much criticism from the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore.’ ‘Vincent Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime.’ There can be numerous examples of art and architecture not being appreciated by the people at first glance. The importance of proper marketing of art can not be ignored. What’s your take on this?
I think good Marketing efforts can be crucial to sell/promote a product/piece of art in the initial stages of its creation. However, as the time passes, I think any product – good or bad – will speak for itself louder than any marketing campaign. However, that does not mean that marketing efforts would not produce any result or are not required at a later stage – it is only that the marketing strategies and efforts would vary at various stages.
Ah – interesting point – but unfortunately – there is no ‘good and bad’ in art – Its depends a lot on perception of the people at the time. Vincent Van Gogh was always a great painter – but people in his time were unable to appreciate his art. Closer home – Our very own Kishore Kumar was considered ‘crazy’ for all the ‘doodling’ etc. in his songs in the initial years – It takes time for audiences to develop a ‘taste’ for your for of art and hence the enhanced importance of marketing in art. What say you?
I am in total agreement with you on this – However I am only trying to state the ‘enhanced’ importance of marketing in art. Because as you say in the free market the ‘quality of the product’ determines whether it sells or not in the long run… But not necessarily so in art!
Yeah.. art may require a different long term challenging marketing strategy to accommodate different tastes at a given time and also to keep pace with tastes changing with time. this is more evident in case of music with general (i mean majority) taste varying from classical (shastriya) music more than 50 years ago to western style music now-a-days!
Allow me to take this discussion to the next level – A true ‘masterpiece’ requires minimal marketing and is timeless. Consider the example of songs in the movie ‘Umrao Jaan’ or better still consider the example of the film ‘Sholay’ – The film appeals across gender / class and is timeless. Although more than 30 years old you thoroughly enjoy it even today…. True art touches you at a higher level – I for one ‘salute’ the team of the movie Sholay.
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