There are hundreds of thousands of “artists” in any given country. Very few make a living from their art, and the majority of those that do make at best the minimum wage. This vast volunteer army of artists does not depress the demand for “name” artists any more than a karaoke bar depresses demand for Lady Gaga to perform.

Lovink’s conflation of amateur production and piracy doesn’t make sense, but I do agree with his criticism of Lessig’s call to firewall amateur production in the “reputation economy” from the monetary economy. We need a firm foundation of liberty (copyleft, free networks, etc.) on which to build a firm economic foundation (kickstarter, etsy, etc.) for artists to make a living.