I see what you did there.

The question is a good one. How does one differentiate themselves from the pack. The same goes for just about any art form today. There are so many artists and so many works, many of them good enough to tickle your fancy and yet the majority of them will only get a tiny fraction of the consideration they deserve.

I would love to publish music or books, but I know that given my dysfunctional relationship with social media, that I am just about wasting my time doing any of the above, even if I had a shred of talent.

What does your dysfunctional relationship with social media have to do with producing works of art? I honestly just didn't follow your train of thought.

The arts have to be their own reward. If you're making art for money, and not the love, it's probably not worth doing.

For better or worse, the marketplace is finally realizing this.

I do not agree with that. When I produce music of coarse I feel good with what I did and of coarse I enjoy listening to it. The art is what makes me happy. But god I would have loved to make money with my passion. Some people are passionated by numbers, some by art. In the end it's a product and if you want to make money with it it is fine.

I'm not saying that it's wrong to want to make money off of art. I'm happy for those who can.

I'm saying that if money is the dominant motivating factor in producing art, expect to be disappointed. Technology has reduced many costs of artistic production and has led to an oversupply of "content." To the cold, uncaring marketplace, you're effectively being compensated by those good feelings involved in the process of imagining, producing, and sharing art.

Even so, I draw and record music for my own enjoyment, and to collaborate with friends.

To make someone else happy, teach them how to make music themselves, rather than giving them your music ;)

I guess I was assuming that there is a link between reaching people through social media and success in the arts. If I want to sell a book or album and I am not backed by a large publisher, I would likely have to market the book myself. The best way would probably be through social media.

Ah, got it. Yeah, publishers and record labels seem to serve primarily as well-oiled marketing machines these days.

But surely you could organize your own precision-strike book or album release via targeted online ads. I'd be surprised if there weren't lots of companies trying to sell this service.

> How does one differentiate themselves from the pack.

That's called marketing, and it's something the major labels are exceptionally good at.

Also, btw, the problem need to be solved for the software industry as well, which at this point is starting to resemble the arts: few big earners stoking the dreams of the many, and many, many others fighting over the scraps.

The world today is still kind to the western developer, but how do we solve this problem for developers now so that we don't have to figure it out in the future?

Programmers are the new rock stars.