Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
The badge is more of a social more than anything else. It lets other TechDirt readers know, "hey, I'm not a free loader. I value Mike's work, and I am willing and able to support him financially"
It's a status symbol. Digital jewellery.
I get what you are saying about the crystal ball. Technically yes, his articles are digital, and they count as an infinite resource.
But your objection to it seems based on a misunderstanding of Mike's argument.
The argument has never been, "don't sell digital goods".
It's, "no matter what you do, digital content WILL be pirated once it's released. Rather than fight a losing battle against the pirates, try to find ways to attach value to that content. -and if it's going to be pirated anyway, why not do it yourself? Then you can at least collect statistics on your audience and earn cool points among your fans"
Early access, interaction with the creator, guarantees of authenticity, and convenience are all ways of attaching value, some fans will find early access worth buying, some wont.
What you are criticizing isn't a knock against TechDirt's credibility; it's evidence that Mike is actually practising what he preaches.
And what about those who do not download movies, songs and books?
If they don't want it, why should they have to pay for it?
I'm a struggling independent artist who does a chunk of my work online. Is it fair that I should have to pay a levy to the big, successful, established artists, just to be able to do my own work?
I can't believe how out of touch these guys are with how people consume movies these days.
Most of the people I know in my age bracket (the 23-30 range) rip their DVDs to a hard drive, download new stuff that's not out yet, and stream everything else through Netflix.
Then a bunch of us get together, hook up the laptop with all the content to a TV, then we go through the list and watch what we want, when we want.
Killing streaming wont bring back "the bad old days"
If they succeed in making Netflix suck, then people will stop paying for Netflix. That's all that will happen.
We will never go back to keeping individual movies on shiny plastic disks. That would be like ditching remotes and getting up off the couch to change the channel or adjust the volume. It's not going to happen.
Hollywood: If you want our money, make things better, not worse.
I would imagine that TED going free is also fantastic for the guests. While the speakers may be very well known in their own field, TED now exposes them to a huge new audience. I have purchased several great books after watching the author give a TED talk.
Not only are the seats at the event more valuable, but presenting at TED is now much more valuable for the speaker.
"Online video and mobile are their killer apps. These Digital Natives see music as the pervasive soundtrack to their interactive, immersive, social environments. Ownership matters less. Place of origin matters less. Context and experience is everything."
This statement really resonates with me, since I like to think that for the most part, I "get it" with digital content being free and all, but I still believe that authorship is important.
One of the reasons that I am unable to get into something like Girl Talk (or any of the DJ-based genres) is because to me, it feels soul-less and empty. It's just a mash-up of other stuff - I'd rather have the original stuff!
I still think of a recorded song as 'a thing'
A remix isn't a new musical experience to me, its a modified version of 'that original thing'
A live performance isn't an event, its provided a song to be compared against the "real" recorded version.
I never realized how stuck in that one way of thinking I was. The idea of music just being there, in the background to highlight an experience, "...who cares what the song is, we can dance to it..." goes against my sensibilities of what music should be about.
"...everyone here thought [traditional publishers] were greedy? That is nothing compared to what ends up happening in self publishing. The cost per book is way higher..."
I don't think the reason for that is greed as much as it is limits of technology. They use very different printing methods.
Large-scale printing requires a huge investment upfront to manufacture the plates, but once that's out of the way, then it's only a few dollars to print each book.
Print-on-demand services do not share the same economies of scale. While there are no set up costs for each job, digital off-set printing simply costs more per unit.
I don't know if middlemen are necessarily disappearing, just shifting to other areas.
I recently self-published my first book through a print-on-demand service. These print-on-demand services are the new middlemen.
The relationship between us is far more balanced than those in the old model, but this balance comes with the loss of that built-in audience the old guys had.
They don't push me on an audience, I have to do that part myself.
"On top of that, we've explained many times why the whole "non-commercial" thing isn't as simple as some would have you believe, and that there are good reasons not to put in place a "non-commercial" caveat."
This is something I do wish TechDirt would expand upon. I'm still nowhere near convinced that dropping the 'nc' clause is no big deal.
What I would like to see is some sort of distinction between what I would call "soft commercial use" - eg. using material on a site which hosts ads, having material appear incidentally in the background of television/film, and "hard commercial use" - scooping up someone else's song and including it on a commercial compilation album or soundtrack.
I've heard that the Guinness book of world records was started as a means of preventing bar room brawls. People would get into an argument over something stupid, and this would lead to a fight. Guinness figured they should collect a bunch of useless facts, put them in a book, and it would end some of these fights. It's gone on to become one of the most successful series of books of all time.
How is a smart phone any different from a fact book?
Now people carry the sum of all human knowledge around with them in their pocket. Only a smart phone is much smaller, and has access to far more info. And it can do all sorts of other handy things, too.
"The ecosystem can reject you, the ecosystem can move on, the ecosystem doesn't need YOU in order to survive."
I think this is by far the most important lesson that content creators need to keep in mind these days.
Attention is the scarcity, not content. Artists have to earn their audience's attention; they can't just expect an audience to come because they released something. And what this guy does is great!
I find relevance and authenticity key to a good celebrity endorsement.
One time where a celebrity endorsement worked for me was an interview with Trent Reznor, where he listed some of the programs and filters he used to get certain guitar sounds. I dabble with guitar, and I really liked those sounds, so I purchased a copy of that VST.
If he were pushing one brand of cola over another, I wouldn't have cared, since I don't think of him as a cola expert, so his opinion there means nothing to me. But when a celebrity is explaining how they did something, what tools they used, that is a meaningful endorsement.
On the post: 'My Works Are Like My Children'
On the post: Canadian House Approves Bill To Make It Easier To Supply Cheaper Generic Drugs To Developing Nations
Re:
I'm trying too, but I can't find an easy way to steal a free membership.
Actually paying my way into a pirate party seems antithetical to the cause.
On the post: Dear Hollywood: It's Time To Realize Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
It's a status symbol. Digital jewellery.
I get what you are saying about the crystal ball. Technically yes, his articles are digital, and they count as an infinite resource.
But your objection to it seems based on a misunderstanding of Mike's argument.
The argument has never been, "don't sell digital goods".
It's, "no matter what you do, digital content WILL be pirated once it's released. Rather than fight a losing battle against the pirates, try to find ways to attach value to that content. -and if it's going to be pirated anyway, why not do it yourself? Then you can at least collect statistics on your audience and earn cool points among your fans"
Early access, interaction with the creator, guarantees of authenticity, and convenience are all ways of attaching value, some fans will find early access worth buying, some wont.
What you are criticizing isn't a knock against TechDirt's credibility; it's evidence that Mike is actually practising what he preaches.
On the post: Dear Hollywood: It's Time To Realize Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
Re: Re: Re: Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
On the post: Dear Hollywood: It's Time To Realize Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
Re: Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
Pay for a crystal ball for earlier access to content
Pay for theatre tickets for earlier access to movies.
Wait a bit and see the article for free on regular TechDirt
Wait a bit and see the movie for free on TV or streaming service.
On the post: Why A Copyright Levy ('Music Tax') Is A Bad Idea: Unnecessary Attempt To Retain Old Power Structures
Re: I am actually for this tax...
If they don't want it, why should they have to pay for it?
I'm a struggling independent artist who does a chunk of my work online. Is it fair that I should have to pay a levy to the big, successful, established artists, just to be able to do my own work?
Let the failed ideas fail.
On the post: Dear Hollywood: It's Time To Realize Artificial Scarcity Is Gone... And That's A Good Thing
out of touch.
Most of the people I know in my age bracket (the 23-30 range) rip their DVDs to a hard drive, download new stuff that's not out yet, and stream everything else through Netflix.
Then a bunch of us get together, hook up the laptop with all the content to a TV, then we go through the list and watch what we want, when we want.
Killing streaming wont bring back "the bad old days"
If they succeed in making Netflix suck, then people will stop paying for Netflix. That's all that will happen.
We will never go back to keeping individual movies on shiny plastic disks. That would be like ditching remotes and getting up off the couch to change the channel or adjust the volume. It's not going to happen.
Hollywood: If you want our money, make things better, not worse.
On the post: GAO Suggests It's Time To Ditch Dollar Bills For Coins
Re:
Metric is too mainstream.
On the post: Case Study: How TED Learned That 'Giving It Away' Increased Both Popularity And Revenue
Not only are the seats at the event more valuable, but presenting at TED is now much more valuable for the speaker.
On the post: Why Are Canadian Regulators Telling Music TV Channels How Many Videos They Can Play?
Re: Intrusiveness
When a TV station receives a good chunk of it's funding from the government, it can expect a few strings to be attached.
On the post: Why Are Canadian Regulators Telling Music TV Channels How Many Videos They Can Play?
Re:
*I THINK their...*
On the post: Why Are Canadian Regulators Telling Music TV Channels How Many Videos They Can Play?
I their their sole purpose is to make the FCC look good.
On the post: The Next Generation Of Music Services Need To Go Beyond Replicating The Analog In The Digital World
sounds about right
This statement really resonates with me, since I like to think that for the most part, I "get it" with digital content being free and all, but I still believe that authorship is important.
One of the reasons that I am unable to get into something like Girl Talk (or any of the DJ-based genres) is because to me, it feels soul-less and empty. It's just a mash-up of other stuff - I'd rather have the original stuff!
I still think of a recorded song as 'a thing'
A remix isn't a new musical experience to me, its a modified version of 'that original thing'
A live performance isn't an event, its provided a song to be compared against the "real" recorded version.
I never realized how stuck in that one way of thinking I was. The idea of music just being there, in the background to highlight an experience, "...who cares what the song is, we can dance to it..." goes against my sensibilities of what music should be about.
Thanks for making me feel old, TechDirt...
On the post: Nice To See How Content Creators Have More Power Over Middlemen
Re: Re: Re: moving middlemen
I don't think the reason for that is greed as much as it is limits of technology. They use very different printing methods.
Large-scale printing requires a huge investment upfront to manufacture the plates, but once that's out of the way, then it's only a few dollars to print each book.
Print-on-demand services do not share the same economies of scale. While there are no set up costs for each job, digital off-set printing simply costs more per unit.
On the post: Nice To See How Content Creators Have More Power Over Middlemen
moving middlemen
I recently self-published my first book through a print-on-demand service. These print-on-demand services are the new middlemen.
The relationship between us is far more balanced than those in the old model, but this balance comes with the loss of that built-in audience the old guys had.
They don't push me on an audience, I have to do that part myself.
On the post: Rethinking Copyright: Letting Free Be Free
This is something I do wish TechDirt would expand upon. I'm still nowhere near convinced that dropping the 'nc' clause is no big deal.
What I would like to see is some sort of distinction between what I would call "soft commercial use" - eg. using material on a site which hosts ads, having material appear incidentally in the background of television/film, and "hard commercial use" - scooping up someone else's song and including it on a commercial compilation album or soundtrack.
On the post: Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt
Re: Re: Re: re:
It's not just other trees. The "Leafs" also offend fans of proper English pluralisation.
On the post: The Latest Generation Of 'Get Off My Lawn!' Books From People Who Don't Understand Technology
guinness...
How is a smart phone any different from a fact book?
Now people carry the sum of all human knowledge around with them in their pocket. Only a smart phone is much smaller, and has access to far more info. And it can do all sorts of other handy things, too.
How is any of that a bad thing?
On the post: Case Study: How To Have Fun Connecting With Fans Like A Superstar DJ
great line
I think this is by far the most important lesson that content creators need to keep in mind these days.
Attention is the scarcity, not content. Artists have to earn their audience's attention; they can't just expect an audience to come because they released something. And what this guy does is great!
On the post: Celebrity Endorsement Deals Almost Always A Bad Deal For Brands
relevance is key
One time where a celebrity endorsement worked for me was an interview with Trent Reznor, where he listed some of the programs and filters he used to get certain guitar sounds. I dabble with guitar, and I really liked those sounds, so I purchased a copy of that VST.
If he were pushing one brand of cola over another, I wouldn't have cared, since I don't think of him as a cola expert, so his opinion there means nothing to me. But when a celebrity is explaining how they did something, what tools they used, that is a meaningful endorsement.
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