Carlo Capocasa wrote:
This being the case, how on earth can such individuals make the case that
they deserve to be paid for what they do for a living, while an artist,
programmer, or individual in some line of work other than their own - does
not?
Ah, I was wondering where the 'OT' dicussions were... LOL, not really OT
but simply with a philosophical focus, and just as important. We gotta
discuss these things ya know :)
I believe the reason why digital products with a cost are frowned upon
so heavily is simply that there is no cost (or very little cost) for
reproduction, and hence their potential for widespread use and EXTREME
network effects (especially when re-use is permitted) are much greater
when they are distributed under one of the free licenses.
I do not believe that proper compensation is not possible under these
circumstances. The proper way to do it has simply not been implemented
yet very widely.
This guy
http://tipping.selfpromotion.com
might be a good place to start looking.
That classic economics problem is this:
Price
| \
| \
|- - \
| ¦\
| ¦ \
|_________________ Quantity
x
For any given price, you have a number of people who would have bought
if the price was lower, and a number of people who would have bought
even if the price was higher. The proper price is a compromise of the
two. The income you yield is price times quantity, represented in the
diagram by the area of the square.
If you start a tipping economy, AND you assume that everyone will tip
his or her highest price possible (which they will, if they are grateful
enough for your product and have been able to earn some money with it as
well), and further assume they will if you succeed in making them very
grateful for your service, you need no such compomise; your yield is
represented by the area of the complete triangle.
Not to mention free viral advertising.
My theory is that for good tipping marketing two things must be done:
1. Create a good product
2. Make the product as personal as possible to promote gratitude (If
you've got a bald head and a pot belly that's great, it helps make you
human and people will be thrilled that this less-than-perfect human is
working his butt off for them)
In my case, this will probably be the 'looks gay but is friendly
sympathy bonus', LOL
I can't wait to get some good songs out to test this.
For linux software (and other free software) what we need is a good
method for tipping distribution, because there are so many people
involved who all deserve their fair share, so people simply can tip to
'linux audio' and the bulk will be covered... including kernel,
libraries... And they then may proceed to tipping towards special
sympathies :)
You know, I just know this can work, and I'm looking forward to.
Carlo
I'm with you Carlo. Perhaps you already knew.
To me the hypocrisy is questioning about these issues without taking the
tipping option into consideration. Personally, I went in this direction.
Is it working?
Not yet. I received three donations since more than a year ago, when I
started this . And two of them came from two kind people on this list,
for whom this solution is maybe obvious.
The reason - and this is the strongest hypocrisy - is also that people
think that if you don't sell your work, but just ask for voluntary
donations, you can afford it.
Another reason, and this is why I was sarcastic with your first post,
Maluvia, is that there are still people who believe that a printed cd
sounds better than a cd-r or a flac file downloaded from the Net. Or
just that they're two completely differen things. I contacted the same
magazines that reviewed some of my printed records rating them as
masterpieces of the genre. When they saw that I was giving my newer
stuff as free downloads they din't even care to listen.
Dana, to me it is great that you put a donation button on
ubuntustudio.org. And your ambition should be that one day this could
give you even a greater income than just enough to pay the hosting fees.
For people it is ok to pay for a magazine full of advertising and with a
content written by somebody who stumbled upon the topic the day before
he wrote the article.
Sorry for my poor english.
c.
--
www.cesaremarilungo.com
