This post is a continued palaver on Trent Reznor’s advice to unknown musicians. The first post can be found here.
Trent’s next bit of advice is this:
“The Beastie Boys’ site offers everything you could possibly want in the formats you would want it in – available right from them, right now. The prices they are charging are more than you should be charging – they are established and you are not. Think this through.” 
There are a few things any artist can take from that statement. Options are something I see a lot of creative folks overlooking, especially visual artists such as painters and photographers. Give your fans many ways and many price points to collect what your creating. Offer very small prints, artist trading cards, sketches, and anything else you can think of that gets your art in more people’s homes. And offer all these through your website or blog as well as art shows and galleries. This does not devalue your art in any way. If anything it creates more value for your original work. And if someone can walk away from your showing with a $5 postcard of your art they are going to remember you and your work more than the artist in the booth next to yours who had no such offerings.
His next point about pricing is a tough one for many artists especially those just beginning to sell to the public. “Think it through,” is very good advice. Pricing is tricky for sure and there is no one piece of advice that can be offered on this subject. So much depends on your medium, your experience, how much you have sold, the current market, and even the part of the globe you live in. A good strategy that has worked for me is to start lower than I would like but raise prices with each sale. This works to build interest while getting your work in people’s hands.
What are your thoughts on pricing art? Please leave a comment and share what works for you. Especially tell us about what methods you used when you were just starting out.
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