The Market Cap on Art

As business students, we’re so accustomed to quantitative valuations of commodities. From valuing inventory in the notorious Business 2257 course to calculating the ROI on a single $12 bagel from The Spoke, monetary transactions infiltrate every facet of our lives. When we’re swept up in the noise of finances, it’s easy to neglect the unquantifiable.

Underlying the hum of everyday life and colouring a number-driven world is art: a universal language that serves as a meter of humanity’s creative capabilities and holds a mirror to the eras we traverse. It is (or was) the sincerest form of self-expression, defying measurement. Though now, art is beginning to reflect the epidemic of commercialization, where art itself has also been infected.

Take film, for example: blockbuster franchises craft storylines for longevity rather than for plot. “All good things must come to an end” and the perpetuity of movie series suggests artistic value has succumbed to commercial gain. That’s not to say that cinema has lost its purpose of entertainment. Movie franchises tap into a deep sense of nostalgia, allowing the films we treasured in our childhoods to carry on and sidestep a bittersweet ending, but that might be the very thing that misaligns it with the progressive nature of art.

The music industry follows suit. With the outflux of music that is produced more algorithmically than creatively, I’ve always found myself wondering which era of music we were presently in, whatever it is seeming to be much less defined than the grandeur of the Baroque period, or the passion of the Romantic era, or the cultural revival of the Renaissance. Or perhaps, like the realizations of those eras, modern music still is a reflection of cultural norms: of how commercialization and art are now inseparable.

Although art’s commercialization could make venturing into it less of a financial risk than it was historically notorious for, the repercussion (whether there is one at all) is ultimately up to you: do you reminisce a time when you weren’t exposed to the same 20-second clip of a song in various forms of media? When you felt an air of pride in discovering an underground artist whose values aligned with yours? Or when you could count on maximalism and personality to bloom from the most ordinary things?

If so, you might be happy to hear that some independent artists are taking it upon themselves to combat the widespread emphasis on profit, even if it means taking a hit on fame or income. Some musicians have gained artistic autonomy by ditching their record label, one going as far as changing his legal name to do so; others, in a similarly bold fashion, refused to get their music licensed altogether. Trailblazers in visual arts can be seen fighting for the same thing: Banksy, in a show of defiance against art’s commercialization, shocked attendees when his piece titled “Girl With Balloon” shredded itself, seemingly prompted by its sale. Like these artists, if we are to preserve the spirit that has driven human culture forward for centuries, we must nurture art not as a commodity, but as a sacred expression of our collective identities.