There is evidence in support of the shareware model working, though. Consider the success of Khaled Mardam-Bey's mIRC, for example. Mardam-Bey has made his living off that piece of shareware for years. REALLY GOOD shareware *can* be a money-maker.
And what about the idea behind Agent? Free Agent is a fine piece of freeware, so people willingly send money to Forte' for the full version. Perhaps there's something in the Freeware/Payware model that would work for normal/enhanced song production. You get a low-bitrate mp3 for free, but if you want the song that sounds incredible, pay to get an unlock code. Granted, code and encryption schemes are breakable, but the point is that distribution models like these are not inherently unsuccessful, so it's something to think about. We need to devise a system for music sharing and artist compensation that will work. The pre-Internet model of music distribution clearly will not.
I tend to agree that shareware purchasers are actually a tiny percentage of shareware users. With music, however, if that "tiny percentage" of payment went to the artists rather than the Giant Corporations, most artists arguably could still make more money than what they are making as corporate slaves. And as I said in my first post, it could certainly boost the quality of their output.
Like the man said, no problems; only solutions.:-)
A shareware model of music distribution could work. Download the shareware music; if you like what you hear, pay the artist (whether through a website or some other means established for this model--perhaps through the same site or software you used to download the music). If you really like the music, you can choose to pay more in order to support the artist's current and future endeavors. If the music sucks, delete it. This way, artists will succeed or fail based on the merits of their music and the tastes of consumers, not because some Obscenely Large and Greedy Corporation, Inc. pumped millions of dollars into promoting them. Who knows? It just might lead to a musical renaissance of sorts.
Now if we can just find a similar system to fight the MPAA....
"The real question is not whether machines can think but whether men do." -B. F. Skinner
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And what about the idea behind Agent? Free Agent is a fine piece of freeware, so people willingly send money to Forte' for the full version. Perhaps there's something in the Freeware/Payware model that would work for normal/enhanced song production. You get a low-bitrate mp3 for free, but if you want the song that sounds incredible, pay to get an unlock code. Granted, code and encryption schemes are breakable, but the point is that distribution models like these are not inherently unsuccessful, so it's something to think about. We need to devise a system for music sharing and artist compensation that will work. The pre-Internet model of music distribution clearly will not.
I tend to agree that shareware purchasers are actually a tiny percentage of shareware users. With music, however, if that "tiny percentage" of payment went to the artists rather than the Giant Corporations, most artists arguably could still make more money than what they are making as corporate slaves. And as I said in my first post, it could certainly boost the quality of their output.
Like the man said, no problems; only solutions. :-)
Whoops; this man was obviously *not* thinking when he double-pasted the .sig... *sheepish grin*
-M.E.
Now if we can just find a similar system to fight the MPAA....
"The real question is not whether machines can think but whether men do." -B. F. Skinner