Several years ago I gave a talk about the differences between value and worth – particularly as it relates to the commerce of creators. The thesis – that value was based on an equation of production cost plus acceptable profit margin while worth is tied to more abstract ideas such as connection, innovation, craftsmanship and expertise. It was an idea, as a fairly recent initiate into the freelance market, that I had really just begun playing with. Fortunately, as that talk was recorded, my song remains the same.
The same, and now amplified.
As we become befuddled by markets that rise and fall, prices that inflate and plummet, it’s easy to get caught up in a feedback loop regarding what is paid and whether those prices are fair. I know I have succumbed to breakfast rage, astonished and incredulous thanks to supply chain issues and the avian flu, eggs and bacon have become luxury items. But when it comes to creative work – writing or visual art or tickets to an event or performance – it is ideas that remain the coin of the realm. The worth of a that ticket or piece of art is less about the materials and more about the desire to engage. When a painter sells his work, there has been an investment in materials – canvas, brushes, paint and the like. There has also been an investment in time – usually a lifetime of sketching, perfecting and observing the work of others. That’s where the real worth of their work comes from. That’s also what makes the price seem arbitrary. What seems high for some will feel like a bargain to others. It’s in the eye of the beholder.
This is an idea, some seven years ago, I was just beginning to understand and explore. Today it’s a far more meaningful discussion. What, for instance, is a well-turned phrase worth? What is the going rate for a moment captured in a photographer’s frame? What will we pay for these things? What should we pay for these things. Answers may vary according to conditions. So I guess the answer remains as abstract as the often elusive impulse to create.
I’m going with everything and nothing at all.