What were the main barriers to building an art business before the internet era?

There were three major barriers: First, very high startup costs—you had to commit to physical gallery leases with year or two-year terms at $5,000-10,000 monthly plus huge deposits and buildout costs. Second, high ongoing costs including monthly rent, physical inventory (you couldn’t print on demand, had to do serigraphy or lithography), and potentially employees. Third, extremely limited local distribution—you could only market to people in your immediate geographic area, not nationally or even statewide. This combination meant high risk, high costs, and limited upside. Only ‘unicorns’ who made it through the eye of the needle succeeded. That’s why the ‘starving artist’ stereotype existed—it was genuinely a difficult business model.

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Asked by artists learning about industry history · Answered by Nick Friend · art-marketing-podcast · 2023-12-20