Sadly haven’t seen many bands do that – but some other, like drawing artists, video bloggers and game makers have joined up and some of them get paid quite handsomely too (thousands of dollars a month).

It takes a lot of time to make music. People need to pay rent, buy food, go to a movie once in a while. So asking them to give it away is ok for while, everyone works for free now and then, or when they start out. But it is not a long term model.

And it still seems a consumer making demands on the creator — give me that for free, you should work for free. Where is the consumer’s sacrifice?

A patent would not help me much. It costs a lot to just file for a patent.. like $75k in Sweden if I dont remember wrong, and that’s just where the costy parts start. You got to be able to protect your patent in court if it is to be worth anything. And as a lone inventor with no big riches backing me up, that is just fantasy. I’d better do a cool Proof of Concept (like a Demo) and head over to a big company / investor and say “hey, I can do these cool things, if you want to I can make one for you!”.

A creator can do that too. Demos of early works to show the world. Get fans to help pay for your (future) work. And if it is a really big investment there is kickstarter – but for instance cinema still rakes in a lot even though copying. In 2012 was an all time high in Sweden ticket sales to cinemas. Even though movie sharing had been rampant on the internet since well, at least 2005. People are willing to pay for entertainment. Maybe not by the copy very much, but for live or social events and many other things.

There are also many negative effects of copy restrict and patents on the economy. One is that people tend find ways squeeze in between to earn money for themselves with help of the creators work (and patents too of course). Another is that jobs where you are paid by the hour and there are no “copies” to be sold anywhere – will automatically be valued less than copy restrict. No wonder almost no one wants to work in health care for instance – both boring and underpaid compared to if you can ride the gravy train of idols and superstars.

1) I spend a year or two creating an awesome rock opera called Quadrophenia or Zen Arcade. I make copies and sell it. The cost of those 2 years labor, physical, mental, creative,materials, is figured into the price of each piece, in addition to the cost of the physical medium, shipping, advertising, a little profit here and there.

2) I work as a database developer. I get paid by the hour. to write a database application for a company. I’ve been working a year and if all goes well January 1st they start using it. Then I go to new project at some other company. I sign a contract that says “this program is yours now. See ya”. The cost of my physical, mental and creative labor is figured into the the hourly rate. Welcome to the grind.

Now in 1) anyone can make a copy of Zen Arcade or Quadrophenia without putting in 2 years of work. So for them to profit from 0 investment outside the cost of their purchase is unfair. TPB profits from distributing Quadrophenia through advertsiments. They also dilute the value of it by increasing the supply, so people are less likely to buy a copy. Used copies do the same thing but on a 1:1 scale, not a 1:anyone with a computer scale.

In case 2) While my client owns the software, it would be outrageously difficult for them to distribute it . If They sold it to Exxon they it would not work. The effort involved with making it work would be more than writing a new one. Even if they could, that is figured into the hourly rate.

What about unique and inventive ideas, you ask? That is where patents come it. If I come up with something awesome and groundbreaking while writing this thing you can damn well be sure I will NOT put it in the final product unless I am very handsomely rewarded. The likelihood of that happening is very remote, I”m not very smart and kind of lazy.

But that is an inherent flaw in contracting — I am actively discouraged from innovating. Since I can’t profit from it, I kind of think eh, I’ll do it with as little effort as possible. But that is another discussion.

I hope you are sincere and not trolling. This is stimulating. BTW I think in the profit model of entertainment (DVDS, Movies, Music) we should be able to return something if we hate it. I think if a movie sucks and I leave halfway through i should get my money back. That is a standard consumer model — If you buy a TV and it doesn’t work you return it.

An entrepreneur who primarily needs freedom (from monopolies or just personal freedom in general) and not money to be able to create an invention that is actually useful. Would rather emigrate to a place where he can pursue his dream that than stay and do a mind dulling job which follows all the established rules, even though it may pay better.

Easy for a geeky eccentric like me to imagine 100 – 1000 useful applications to media, culture and other kinds of digital “content”, but as long as the law stands in it’s current form it is not even worth thinking about those possibilites.

Hint: check out patreon.com It is a way for creators to reach out to fans and get supported for each new piece or by the month.