Should I wait for traditional art market channels to recover before focusing on online selling?

Absolutely not. The data shows that online art sales doubled in 2020 and this represents permanent behavior change. Market research consistently shows that when major events cause habit changes, people never go back to the old world. The habits formed around buying art online and through video are here to stay. The smart move is to focus on the controllable, predictable channel—online and direct sales—rather than waiting for uncertain traditional channels to maybe recover to unknown levels. Even if shows and galleries come back, they won’t be at full strength for a long time, and you’ll have lost valuable time you could have spent building skills and audience in the channel that’s actually growing. Don’t hang on hoping the old world returns—it won’t. Build for the new reality.

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Asked by an artist waiting for traditional markets to recover · Answered by Nick and Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2021-03-25