not only that... but you also get a share of the revenues after the album is released. So it's an interesting incentive model for fans -- as well as "investors"...
I'm not sure how the revenue sharing actually works, tho. It seems possible that you could end up earning more money than you put in originally, but that aspect is not highlighted (presumably b/c the odds of it happening are either really low -- or it's not really possible).
Perhaps I wasn't clear in the post... This is an AWESOME charity offer. Kudos to the freakonomics guys for donating their work and encouraging others to help out others.
But seeing that the authors are economists themselves, it's also a bit disappointing that they don't try other alternative methods of selling their work. And I'd really like it if they'd analyze their own experiments...
Charity is great, but charity isn't really a business for content creators, is it? Maybe it can be, but the economy usually runs in a profit-earning mode -- and it would be beneficial to society to develop more profit-earning models for content creation.
I bought the XKCD book.. and in the foreword, Munroe says he quit his job at NASA to do XKCD full time. He's got a friend to help him administer the website, and it doesn't say how much he makes, but apparently enough for him to live comfortably in California....?
An interesting point... but say an author or cartoonist does "anything other" than drawing cartoons or writing... does that detract from the cartoon being self-sufficient? Dilbert's Scott Adams has written books -- does that mean Dilbert isn't enough to sustain Adams? What about Adams' food investments and Dilberitos..?
It's hard to say what "self-sufficient" really means... Even if you have the monetary numbers, is $80K/yr good enough? Or is anything less than a multi-million dollar royalty just chump change?
Interesting point about virtual economy inflation, but I think as long as the number of pre-orders is relatively small compared to the number of regular players in the game, there shouldn't be a huge problem. And.. the other loophole is that the virtual loot is not defined -- so it could be essentially worthless virtual loot. Pre-order folks might just get a virtual "pet rock" in the game -- who knows?
I guess we'll have to see what Gearbox decides to hand out when the game arrives....
I agree this is similar to the funny pages... in that the funny pages also give some readers a reason to buy the paper.
For whatever psychological reason, people like to see or read about their favorite things ASAP. And if the NYT can provide a service where it can consistently offer content that people are eager to see -- the NYT can make a business out of that.
I guess a desperate attempt to stay relevant is still an attempt to connect with fans..?
Thanks for filling out the details on this. The NYT might be on to something big here -- but it has to scale correctly for them. The NYT can't afford to hire tons of editors/negotiators to curate all these kind of deals. That'll be the real trick.
I really like the stuff that Kickstarter does, so thanks for pointing out yet another awesome example of a creative work funded by a community of true fans.
Google *could* have fought back, but they had no *legal* (or direct financial) requirement to do so. It can obviously be argued, as you have, that Google had a PR reason to not reveal the blogger's name. But in this case, I'm sure Google decided that it was not worth the effort over such a trivial case. Google should pick its battles and save up its legal artillery for the cases that actually matter.
hmm. given that this story looks like a publicity stunt... I'd have to say that the "mud wrestling" metaphor seems appropriate for the specific situation. If it were a case involving two men, would saying this was a "legal cock-fight" have been demeaning to men?
I'll admit to being the person who disabled the "anti-Mike" account. As you can imagine, there are a lot of comment spammers out there... and I sometimes get a bit overzealous about weeding out the possible spammers. But if you sign up with a "suspicious-looking" email address that has the word "porn" in it -- are you really expecting to be accepted with open arms? Seriously?
(Sorry for feeding the trolls, but Mike Masnick made me sound all mysterious by not naming me... and I didn't want to leave it sounding like he was making up someone as an excuse.)
You don't need to have a Techdirt account to buy any of the CwF+RtB tiers. Go ahead a shop, and if you buy a Techdirt Crystal Ball, we can always create an account for you afterward.
I'll track down your account, but usually what happens is that our confirmation email gets caught by your spam filter (or you've just plain ignored it)....
We'll send it again.. and hope for the best. Don't give up on us so quickly. :P
academic authors usually give up their copyrights anyway...
basically, the question of whether copyrights "should" be abolished comes down to: "do academic authors really want to re-write their publications for 'open' journals?"
Academic researchers already give up their copyright ownership when they fork over their submissions to private journals. The ideas are still "open" -- but the authors would have to re-write their papers for open publications. So researchers are obviously willing to give up their copyright ownership. Journals may not be, tho.
On the post: Public Enemy Trying To Get A Little Help From Its Friends
Re: Had not heard of Sellaband
I'm not sure how the revenue sharing actually works, tho. It seems possible that you could end up earning more money than you put in originally, but that aspect is not highlighted (presumably b/c the odds of it happening are either really low -- or it's not really possible).
On the post: The First Printed Copy Of SuperFreakonomics Auctioned Off For Charity
not inferior at all....
But seeing that the authors are economists themselves, it's also a bit disappointing that they don't try other alternative methods of selling their work. And I'd really like it if they'd analyze their own experiments...
Charity is great, but charity isn't really a business for content creators, is it? Maybe it can be, but the economy usually runs in a profit-earning mode -- and it would be beneficial to society to develop more profit-earning models for content creation.
On the post: Could Doonesbury Learn Anything From XKCD?
Re: XKCD guy makes his real money at NASA
I bought the XKCD book.. and in the foreword, Munroe says he quit his job at NASA to do XKCD full time. He's got a friend to help him administer the website, and it doesn't say how much he makes, but apparently enough for him to live comfortably in California....?
On the post: Could Doonesbury Learn Anything From XKCD?
Re: Re: Re:
On the post: Could Doonesbury Learn Anything From XKCD?
Re: Other Examples
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_self-sufficient_webcomics
There's "only" about 40 comics in that list....
On the post: When Connecting With Fans, Be Careful What You Promise
Re: Cost of virtual loot
I guess we'll have to see what Gearbox decides to hand out when the game arrives....
On the post: Could Artists Help Newspapers? (And Vice Versa)
Re: much head scratching here
For whatever psychological reason, people like to see or read about their favorite things ASAP. And if the NYT can provide a service where it can consistently offer content that people are eager to see -- the NYT can make a business out of that.
I guess a desperate attempt to stay relevant is still an attempt to connect with fans..?
No one says CwF has to be groundbreaking...
On the post: Could Artists Help Newspapers? (And Vice Versa)
Re: gotta watch the video..
Thanks for filling out the details on this. The NYT might be on to something big here -- but it has to scale correctly for them. The NYT can't afford to hire tons of editors/negotiators to curate all these kind of deals. That'll be the real trick.
mikeho
On the post: Authors Take Up The Tiered Support Models Also
Re: Robin also does the CwF to increase the RtB
I really like the stuff that Kickstarter does, so thanks for pointing out yet another awesome example of a creative work funded by a community of true fans.
mikeho
On the post: Outed Blogger Plans To Sue Google; Skank Model Mess Gets Messier
Re: My Thoughts
On the post: Outed Blogger Plans To Sue Google; Skank Model Mess Gets Messier
Re: Re: Re: poor metaphor
With it, I had to grow sense of humor, as you might imagine.
On the post: Outed Blogger Plans To Sue Google; Skank Model Mess Gets Messier
Re: poor metaphor
On the post: Hacked Recap
we're back...
(Thanks to mcc and dty for all the extra work on the weekend. )
On the post: Radiohead Leaks Its Own Track To BitTorrent; Apparently Still Happy With 'Free'
Re: new Cwf+RtB idea
On the post: Even If You're On A Major Label, Connecting With Fans Is Important
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
(Sorry for feeding the trolls, but Mike Masnick made me sound all mysterious by not naming me... and I didn't want to leave it sounding like he was making up someone as an excuse.)
On the post: Special One Week Only CwF+RtB Offer... Plus International Sales
Re: Want to give you money, but
You don't need to have a Techdirt account to buy any of the CwF+RtB tiers. Go ahead a shop, and if you buy a Techdirt Crystal Ball, we can always create an account for you afterward.
Thanks!
Mike
On the post: Special One Week Only CwF+RtB Offer... Plus International Sales
Re: Want to give you money, but
I'll track down your account, but usually what happens is that our confirmation email gets caught by your spam filter (or you've just plain ignored it)....
We'll send it again.. and hope for the best. Don't give up on us so quickly. :P
Mike (a different Mike)
On the post: Should Copyright Be Abolished On Academic Work?
academic authors usually give up their copyrights anyway...
Academic researchers already give up their copyright ownership when they fork over their submissions to private journals. The ideas are still "open" -- but the authors would have to re-write their papers for open publications. So researchers are obviously willing to give up their copyright ownership. Journals may not be, tho.
On the post: CwF + RtB = Techdirt
Re: Re: I can see into the future
On the post: CwF + RtB = Techdirt
Re: I want a Hoodie
I dunno about Techdirt underwear, tho... :P shot glasses? maybe. :)
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