Kevin Smith

I will preface this post with the admission that I love just about everything associated with Kevin Smith. For me, his movies are infinitely rewatchable. Some may think his movies are a bit heavy (not a fat joke, Kevin) on the dialogue, but none can deny his unique eloquence. This post is a public acknowledgement of my man-crush for Kevin Smith.

Now that the verbal BJ is out of the way, I think the man is a visionary. How many people can you say truly do what they love for a living? How many people do what they love ever? This man is a walking posterboy for perseverance. He gets destroyed in the media every time he opens his mouth, but a quick glance at his Twitter page shows that robot journalist douchebags do not speak for the masses. He is the paradigm for any serious artist.

Kevin's latest endeavor is one of the most inspirational things for aspiring artists that I've seen in a while. Rather than feeding the corporate machine, he is financing and releasing his film on his terms. I almost equate this with the tactic Radiohead took for the release of In Rainbows. Why would you want to sell your product for $15, give up the majority of that to others who had little to nothing to do with the end product, and bring home a few bucks when you can release your product for $5 (or in Radiohead's case, pick-your-price) and only have minor hosting and administrative fees to cover? Artists and consumers are both happier and more apt to create/consume. The wretched hive of scum and villainy that is the Internet allows for artists to interact directly with fans, admirers, critics, and -let's be honest- consumers. Artists are finally realizing they have other options than lining the pockets of industry blowhards.

This is why Kevin Smith is a visionary. The man has 1.7+ million followers on Twitter. I challenge any ad firm (hell, bring in Don Draper if you'd like) to find one outlet where you can advertise to 1.7 million people in your target audience FOR FREE. Let's say 10 million people are watching a TV show and a trailer for Red State runs. Of those ten million, how many are in the target demographic? How many were in the bathroom during the commercial break? How much did the ad cost? This marketing strategy is only accepted because the "just throw some money at it" approach is so prevalent. We watch the Superbowl and see companies pay millions of dollars to show us their trailer only to be forgotten the next day because Budweiser had a commercial with a farting dolphin on right after that. Seeing it from that perspective makes it seem pretty ridiculous.

As an aspiring artist, I have great hope that this will become a viable route for reaching an audience. Obviously, not everyone has a million followers and an established fanbase, but I think future artists can use this model to cheaply (Read: free) interact with their fans, and potential fans.

Here's to hoping that art trumps greed.

Or maybe he'll fail miserably. Either way, at least we can get a few entertaining podcasts out of it.