I actually hardly ever see discussions of ableism against physically disabled celebs, characters, fans, and people in general, and it’s such a pervasive problem. I don’t claim to represent all physically disabled people, and I can’t address every single issue, but here are some frequent problems I see and that I think people need to think more about.
I would encourage able bodied people to please read this and consider sharing it to help make sure that people are evaluating the kind of fandom environment you’re creating for your disabled peers, but I don’t mean like “reblog this or I don’t trust you :/” or whatever I’m not your mom
I just saw a torrent site that had more than a thousand illegal downloads of my Photoshop Megapack … in 24 hours. Seriously, how many people use Photoshop out there?! I mean, of course I’m upset, but I’m equally baffled by this number – I didn’t realize that many people had an interest in making digital art. It’s nuts.
Artists stealing from artists. I can’t understand it.
And I am always afraid to raise my already insultingly low prices BECAUSE I am afraid of more piracy. So, what am I supposed to do here?
The sad truth is that I either DO need to raise prices to make up for the gross number of thefts and keep my income stream from diminishing (which would, of course, make them less affordable for students and young pros), or I need to completely change the business model somehow to somehow fight piracy. I don’t know how to change it, exactly, but since piracy of my products has been steadily increasing every year since I started, I need to figure something out.
Final thought: If just 5% of those people had bought legally, I’d have made $750 today. Okay, okay – that thought will definitely not improve my mood.
If you are a victim of piracy of your creative products, and you have some thoughts on this topic, I welcome them in comment form. Also, if you agree that this behavior is disgusting, and that we artists should be supporting one another, rather than acting like cannibals, then PLEASE REBLOG. Perhaps, if we make a little noise, it will at least make people reconsider using torrent sites when they realize that working artists are behind all of the creative products they love: music, art, film – all of it.
Thanks for reading. – Kyle
Stop stealing from artists and shaming artists for demanding money 2016
“If just 5% of those people had bought legally, I’d have made $750 today.”
wow. that’s disgusting and I hope the people who re-distributed artist tools that are already dirt cheap for free are ashamed of themselves. I hope their drawings suck too. >:c
Truthfully here. I wouldn’t buy that. Most people I know wouldn’t buy that. Most people use a handful of brushes and that’s it.
I imagine 90% of people downloading it only did so in order to ‘try’ the brushes and see if any of the 150 are even useful to them. So.. yeah, asking for $15, while not a huge amount, is really off putting when I might not even want to use any of them at all.
I’m of the firm belief that the majority of piracy comes from issues with a business model. In this case, asking people to cough up $15 for something they can’t test. Same thing happens with games. And, while I’m no professional, from a consumers point of view, I can see a few ways to approach this:
-Sell the brushes in smaller packs for less (Which you do to an extent), or even individually for less than a dollar or so each. I personally would be much more willing to cough up a dollar or two for a few brushes I like the look of than $15 for a bunch I won’t use.
-Use a different approach all together, such as patreon, and keep people enticed with offering new brush sets monthly etc. That kinda thing.
I imagine most people pirating this are not making money from their art. They probably have pirated photoshop too. Regardless of the moral implications, I don’t agree that piracy is disgusting, just a symptom of our corporate society.
If you go to his website, he has a variety of brushes for sale in different price ranges, and some brushes for free that you can use to test.
The real symptom of our corporate society in evidence here is that you feel that paying $15 for something is a big inconvenience or expense. Why do you use terminology like “asking for $15” when someone is selling a product or service? He is selling a product, and it is worth paying for.
You wouldn’t go to a restaurant and ask to try a bite of a hamburger before paying for your meal. You wouldn’t ask to wear a pair of socks out of a twelve-pack from Costco for a week, for free, before buying the rest. That would be ridiculous. But Costco does offer sample versions of food, sometimes, to let you know what you could be buying. Just like Kyle does.
Just quit being a shitty customer and pay people for their time and effort. The fact that the internet has made it easier to steal does not make a product any less valuable. Stop blaming our “corporate society” for being unwilling to pay for things. The fact that Kyle has made a business on his own of making and selling something valuable and useful, outside of any corporate influence or control, is in direct rebellion against “corporate society” because he’s independent, and you should support him.
Full disclosure: I’ve bought a lot of Kyle brushes and use them frequently, they’re an excellent value, and if you use Photoshop and want to make good things, I highly recommend buying them. If you actually care about fighting against a corporate society, you will pay skilled individuals for their products, because nothing gives a middle finger to our corporate world like showing them that you can make money without corporate help.
Pirating content from a hard-working individual is stealing food from their table, and is certainly disgusting.
I'm really not that boring, I'm headstrong and annoying 