The Death of the Artist: How Creators Are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech

Written by William Deresiewicz

Narrated by Sean Patrick Hopkins

A deeply researched warning about how the digital economy threatens artists' lives and work—the music, writing, and visual art that sustain our souls and societies—from an award-winning essayist and critic

There are two stories you hear about earning a living as an artist in the digital age. One comes from Silicon Valley. There's never been a better time to be an artist, it goes. If you've got a laptop, you've got a recording studio. If you've got an iPhone, you've got a movie camera. And if production is cheap, distribution is free: it's called the Internet. Everyone's an artist; just tap your creativity and put your stuff out there.

The other comes from artists themselves. Sure, it goes, you can put your stuff out there, but who's going to pay you for it? Everyone is not an artist. Making art takes years of dedication, and that requires a means of support. If things don't change, a lot of art will cease to be sustainable.

So which account is true? Since people are still making a living as artists today, how are they managing to do it? William Deresiewicz, a leading critic of the arts and of contemporary culture, set out to answer those questions. Based on interviews with artists of all kinds, The Death of the Artist argues that we are in the midst of an epochal transformation. If artists were artisans in the Renaissance, bohemians in the nineteenth century, and professionals in the twentieth, a new paradigm is emerging in the digital age, one that is changing our fundamental ideas about the nature of art and the role of the artist in society.

A Macmillan Audio production from Henry Holt and Company

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: Jul 28, 2020
• ISBN: 9781250755452

William Deresiewicz

William Deresiewicz was a professor at Yale until 2008. He is the author of the landmark essays “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education” and “Solitude and Leadership” and is a frequent speaker on campuses around the country. A contributing writer for The Nation and a contributing editor for The New Republic and The American Scholar, he is the author of A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter. Visit BillDeresiewicz.com.

Reviews for The Death of the Artist

[Dada · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I wanted to listen to this audiobook, but the book I heard was called "Complicated."

[knaan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Hi everyone, just want to say that the audio is now fixed, and you can listen to the right audiobook now!

[Nicholas Sopelario · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Like the previous reviewer. The same problem and a different book is played instead of what’s displayed

[Kaitlin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is thorough in relative terms but lazy research and in itself personifies a type of book a publisher would want; Cough cough why didn't you mention how you were able to get this book published? When so many writers can't? Cough cough. What do I mean by that? I mean this book lacks the serious intellectual introspection like- Visual artists are actually using YouTube to show their "studio vlogs/ day in the life of a freelance illustrator " and it actually isn't a platform for burgeoning filmmakers- but that investigation was much too complex and the writer clearly didn't want to go that route which is much more needed. if the writer wanted to talk about the relationship between film and YouTube it should've gone towards Vimeo and how that is more of the platform for upcoming filmmakers where YouTube is more for - honestly visual artists and how messed up it is that visual artists are now expected to acquire film school type editing techniques to make it as a visual artist. Also, artists who are doing it from scratch and the whole "broke artist thing" is actually coming back with younger generations. I think this book is told very much from a Gen X perspective and it is a bit dated already In its infancy. This book has an agenda. It is painfully obvious. Why not mention all of the advice Stephen King offers in his book " on writing" Or why not mention how the famous Cormac McCarthy despises being around artists and writers and why he thinks that's a good for writers. And how every visual artist will tell you that you need to drop out and there are no more MFA's that are worth it at all instead of advocating for a change in valuing MFA's. For instance,if a visual artist has a skill set but never pursued it for a myriad of reasons and they have a "mid career change" that is very common in the teaching profession then they should be able to enter the art profession without a huge disadvantage of not being started at 18 years old with a BFA. As someone who experienced very early hardship and trauma - starting from a young age wouldn't be possible, I think this book has a really icky irreverence for life and the tragedies that can happen in life because it follows a narrative of a résumé and that you have to be started at a certain age as if people have control over their lives ; oy. Again- a very prescriptive type of book that we would expect from an author like this and a book title like this that has very much "click bait" vibes. focus on the older demographic should have been included because the book is meant to be a roadmap but let's face it art is a way of life and way of living and I think this book interviewed people that made art very black-and-white and the narrator himself made it seem like "oh this is art" and "this isn't" total bullshit. everything is art. the real investigation is how should be on the death of creativity- so the title of the book should really be like the death of the creative person and would be a much more interesting authentic read

[Kelvin Gregory · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

What I liked least about this audiobook is that it is not “The Death of the Artist” but “Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science,” although the latter book is really effective in the way it draws one in. But it isn’t the title announced on the cover that I was expecting with great interest to listen to.