Having surveyed 1,533 artists working both in the UK and the US, the report has found that three quarters of US-based artists earn less than $10,000 through their art, with 48,7% earning less than $5,000. It doesn’t get better in the UK, where 82% of artists earn less than £10,000 — a 9% increase as compared to 2013, where they were “only” the 72%.
Gender also plays a role as 83.6% of women artists earn less than £10,000 in the UK, compared to 77% of men.
Certainly because of their low incomes, 68% of the artists interviewed by Artfinder spend only between one and ten hours weekly managing their art business, with only 18% of artists consecrating up to 20 hours a week to marketing, packaging, delivery and customer service.
47% of artists have said that sales of their artworks account for less than 25% of their income. On the bright side, 60% of the 10,000 Artfinder members have sold at least an artwork. The study is available in its entirety here.
