Rewarding artists of all kinds is regarded as essential to the creative economy as they supply the basic ingredient to the creative industries. Can that supply be guaranteed by the market alone or is state intervention required to maintain that supply? Cultural economics has placed emphasis on financial support via subsidy while copyright law regulates the market via legal means. Both have to adapt to the fundamental changes brought about by digitisation and the expansion of multi-national platforms that have disrupted institutional arrangements for supporting and protecting creativity.