The networked artist

Who's responsible for ideas?

In the era before Bernbach, advertising ideas were primarily driven by individual writers. Gladwell noted a similar consensus around scientific innovation in the modern age, namely that “...we thought we needed the solitary genius.”

Then our mad men and women paired up, uniting art and copy, and duos produced ideas. For generations the ad industry believed only the anointed few could or should have ideas. We turned only to creatives. Only ad agencies had ideas.

There was incredible richness and fluidity within these narrow confines, of course. But, to re-phrase Gladwell, “We thought we needed the solitary agency (or creative).” We believed and supported a culture that said ideas were only the responsibility of the few.

This played out not just in advertising, but in the music industry (controlled by few labels and fewer distributors), the book industry, and perhaps even film and education.

We've entered the era of networked artists: The creative work of many, celebrated by many. (I suggested this premise last week, during my Student Ad Summit keynote.)

We've moved further and further away from the very few being solely responsible for an insight or work, distributed to the many for passive consumption. We've moved away from specific job titles being the only titles capable of birthing credible ideas. And most important, we've come into a culture of networking ideas.

This isn't entirely new thinking. Gladwell's story of scientific innovation, and Steven Johnson's TED talk offer ample illumination. What inspires me, however, is the notion of being a networked creative -- being an artist who's output flourishes especially because of my network, or because of your network.

This is what drives Kickstarter or hitRECord (Joseph Gordon-Levitt's open collaborative production company) or Ideasicle (Will Burns' similar organization). Being a networked artist isn't the same as participating in crowdsourced work. The difference is transparency and credit. In crowdsourcing, the identities of the artists are often masked or unknown until very late in the process. With crowdsourcing, you're hiring the anonymous crowd, not a network of artists. So for a networked artist, upfront attribution and credibility matter.

Because a networked artist can be hired as much for their art as their network.It works for the same reasons brands hire celebrity musicians and spokespeople. We've come to realize that an artist's network might be as valuable as their art. And so, this new age encourages artists to consider and nurture their networks the same way they consider and nurture the art they produce.

Perhaps your network is your portfolio.In other words, “What do you create?” matters as much as “Who do you create with?” because we're recognizing the inherent value of our audiences and their interactions.