Alternative means of profit in the face of piracy
Tuesday, October 6, 2009 by Sergio
A number of solutions to the problem of piracy faced by various industries were discussed in the lecture. I'd like to mention some methods which currently function primarily as a means of sustaining independent productions, but could be put to use by larger corporations.
Sites such as Kickstarter, ArtistShare and Fundable facilitate the funding of a product prior to its creation by interested members of the public. Piracy is impossible at this stage as there is nothing to pirate; the product will only come to exist if enough money is pledged to fund its creation. By the time piracy is possible (assuming the product gains sufficient support) production costs have been covered, often with added profit.
Products on these sites often offer incentives to make people pledge larger amounts of money. These incentives can include merchandise, playing a credited role in the product's development, or some sort of unique experience with the creators of the product.
Musician Josh Freese takes this a step further through offering some truly unique incentives to buy his album. One of the smaller incentives is a five minute phone call with Freese in exchange for a $50 contribution. On the other end of the scale, shelling out the ludicrous sum of $75,000 for Freese's album comes with the added bonuses of touring with Freese, receiving an EP by him about your life, getting one of his drumsets, having him play in your band for a full month (if you have one) and the option to take a flying trapeze lesson with him.
If these techniques (or variations on them) don't provide a means of recouping the alleged billions of dollars lost to piracy, I don't know what will.
Sites such as Kickstarter, ArtistShare and Fundable facilitate the funding of a product prior to its creation by interested members of the public. Piracy is impossible at this stage as there is nothing to pirate; the product will only come to exist if enough money is pledged to fund its creation. By the time piracy is possible (assuming the product gains sufficient support) production costs have been covered, often with added profit.
Products on these sites often offer incentives to make people pledge larger amounts of money. These incentives can include merchandise, playing a credited role in the product's development, or some sort of unique experience with the creators of the product.
Musician Josh Freese takes this a step further through offering some truly unique incentives to buy his album. One of the smaller incentives is a five minute phone call with Freese in exchange for a $50 contribution. On the other end of the scale, shelling out the ludicrous sum of $75,000 for Freese's album comes with the added bonuses of touring with Freese, receiving an EP by him about your life, getting one of his drumsets, having him play in your band for a full month (if you have one) and the option to take a flying trapeze lesson with him.
If these techniques (or variations on them) don't provide a means of recouping the alleged billions of dollars lost to piracy, I don't know what will.
Great post, Sergio - thanks for sharing these instructive examples.