It was with interest I learned that Steve Jobs avoided using or even permitting the usage of the words "branding" and "marketing" due to their implication of the need for something beyond the excellence of the product itself. A great admirer of Steve Jobs yet not unaware of his harsh treatment of employees, I prefer to learn from the qualities that grew Apple into the powerhouse it is today while rejecting some of his managerial techniques of the handling of personnel. That said, Jobs' had a good reason for disallowing the words branding and marketing. He believed that a quality product requires little outside marketing other than normal advertising presenting facts and benefits.
Yet almost regardless of the profession, we do hear about the need for branding and marketing as a way to extend the customer base. In the arts, we do not enjoy thinking much about the customer (the audience) since we prefer to transmit our art because of our own creative desire to be expressive, but, in truth, without a customer, we have no art other than the self-satisfaction of the personal expression. The art becomes meaningful when others find it to be meaningful in some sense. Without the customer, the art makes little difference in the world. Without a customer, art is entirely personal (certainly a beneficial practice with a great deal of merit) and geared primarily for self-improvement (nothing wrong with that). The customer keeps the economy moving while the lack of a customer likely results in fiscal and possibly artistic stagnation.
Herein lies the tension: should art be about the customer and ultimately the economic gain? Or should art be about the emotional self-expression and personal creativity apart from any kind of economic responsibility or desire? Obviously both are true to an extent and whichever way one leans ultimately defines the outcome and possibly the judgment of the work itself. Should art have any commercial value whatsoever or does it lose its integrity when it is sold to the masses? Is it possible that some, perhaps most, readily accept that great art has a limited audience and, in spite of the weak economic outlook, creates and retains its own value through excellence apart from its mass appeal?
But this all seems rather silly, does it not? Value of any object is determined not by its inherent (and often self-proclaimed) worth, but rather by what another person is willing to trade for the item. Trade usually but not always takes the form of cash, but trade can also involve time, objects, investments, even emotional sacrifice. The wheels of progress keep turning due to the give and take of trade. Although often a despicable idea particularly to the artist, such ought to be true about art. My value as a musician, painter, conductor, actor, writer, teacher is not determined by own nebulous and subjective assessment but rather by the value ascribed by other people whether tangibly or intangibly. This is not to negate personal value, a necessary and valid trait useful not just for emotional stability but also to encourage development and improvement, but self-absorption aside, external value is the driving force behind all economic growth.
Yet in a way there remains suspicion about marketing and commercialism related to the arts and many artists fear that to market the arts is to cheapen the art form and its purpose in the world. Others, however, embrace the economic benefit of the arts and recognize the need to trumpet the arts culturally as well as commercially. Wrestling with maintaining artistic integrity while making an economic impact through the arts, in the end, I do subscribe to the Steve Jobs concept of a good product should not require a excessive branding nor marketing since the product should speak for itself. Create a quality product that is needed and wanted and the demand for that product will drive it forward without having to rely solely on branding and marketing.
This concept minimizes marketing as the solution to the problem of a decline in interest in the arts. As in all things economic, we must return to the product creation and remind ourselves that the product will sell itself through demand. Such is true in the arts as well. It is wise to remain suspicious of excessive commercialism but it is equally astute to avoid the trappings of art as being primarily isolated events operating in a vacuum of self-absorption. Steve Jobs may be correct to allow the quality of the product be decided by the people.
