If you're legitimately talented as an artist, and not one

Well to answer your question a lot of artists prefer the anonymity of poverty which allows them to more purely focus on their medium and never become part of the machinery in the first place. Staying with smaller, communal art galleries, or self-publishing records.

But on the other side of the equation I've always liked what Squarepusher said:
> why wouldn’t you want to sell a lot of records? Why wouldn’t you want to get your work out to as many people as you can? As long as you haven’t ruined it in the process.

That's the key though "as long as you haven't ruined it in the purpose".
Are you doing your best work, or the work that makes the most money?

>>1463123
I don't mean actual poverty. I mean they will have a wageslave job for most of the week in an unconventional job.

>>1463123
>>1463127

Right, but even small gallery artists, self-published indie musicians, and independent writers who don't have contracts with the big six are still able to make a living through their art even if they aren't stupendously wealthy. They just have to promote their art, but spending time self-promoting is probably more fulfilling than working a job unrelated to their art, be it flipping burgers or flipping securities.

>>1463141
Depends on where they live. How marketable their art is. Their personal promotion skills. You can't just make such a broad stroke on this.

Never forget that the security of a wage-slave job's constant income may be what invigorates them to create. That security let's them work guilt free.

And for other people, yes, they could full time do their work... but it's a really circumstantial thing, if you just happen to like making Dubstep or whatever is the genre of the day in music, or you happen to be brought up in a town which digs Folk Music just as much as you do, then you'e got a better chance of making it a full time thing.

That's a crapshoot part. And then, like especially writers are really introverted people who don't have the sales knack to make a full time career out of it.

It's basically a marketing principal: do you have what other people want. The thing is for an artist, they can't change what they offer. Well, a 'legitimate' one anyway.

>>1463173
Wait, "work guilt free ON THEIR ART". Need to clear that up.

>>1463112
My art is self-expression, not a product to be sold. Unfortunately this massive ego and pride is why I'm still poor