Creating for Passion or Content: The Eternal Battle of the Artist

Sunday, August 21st 2022.

I’m currently sat relaxing by the pool in Zakynthos, Greece, reflecting on recent events in my life as a cool breeze gives some much-needed relief from the blazing Mediterranean sun.

I’ve just opened the Notion app to write a reflective blog, but something stopped me. As I started to write, I found myself thinking “is this something that people want to read? Is this something people should read?” In the end, I decided against writing it, pushing my impulse to one side. Instead, I’m writing a different blog, this blog.

Resisting the urge to overshare my feelings, I’ve found myself reflecting on a question that has plagued writers for centuries — “who am I writing for? Is it me, the writer or you, the reader?” I would argue the former and almost certainly you would argue the latter. Perhaps then it’s about a fine balance, akin to walking a tightrope.

Ultimately, creators, whether they are writers, artists or musicians, will always want to focus on crafting something they’re passionate about. Something that represents their thoughts and emotions, using their chosen medium as an outlet in this dysfunctional world of chaos. Ideally, giving the customer what they desire would be nothing more than a secondary consideration, but for the significant majority of us, that luxury is simply a distant dream on a far off horizon. It is necessary to ensure that we create what the customer wants, conforming to simple supply and demand. We must focus not only on content, but maximising our opportunity for good SEO and pursuing topics that will rocket us into the virtual stratosphere, a place that few ever reach.

There is one final consideration, though. Whilst the customer will always be critical to the equation, without passion, there would be no works of art. Shakespeare, Mozart, Van Gogh. None of these creative geniuses would have become the artists they did without their passion. Their success was the result of them focusing on what they loved, and ultimately the love from their customers.

It is on us then, the creators, to find balance between passion and necessity.