I don't think that a failed artist would lose out on basic needs because of money. The average, economically entrenched observer would see a "successful artist" as one getting paid for their efforts.

I see a successful artist as someone who is creative enough to acquire basic needs, comforts, and actualization with little or no money - be it through bartering or learning to create for themselves.

Success can also come in the form of making statements about society through their medium(s) of choice, and ideally changing the outlook an audience.

In this regard, religion and arts were the first forms of software engineering - by the modification of the observers perspective.

Of course there is also aesthetic art, which is beautiful for us to admire because it is proof of the capacity of another humans attention to detail. These works usually don't seek to comment on the state of culture.