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subscriptions for things that have no reason to be provided as a service instead of as a product), make the users the products themselves It seems to be workin

subscriptions for things that have no reason to be provided as a service instead of as a product), make the users the products themselves It seems to be working okay for YouTube and Twitch content creators. By monetizing via donations, Patreon patronage, and Twitch subscriptions, creators form a closer and more direct relationship with their audience. Twitch streamers especially are rewarded for engaging directly with people in chat. For programmers it's different. Your best bet is to get paid by a company to work on proprietary business software, which can be highly specialized to the company and protected by trade secrets.

rubinelli 7y ago
Entertainment seems to be swinging back to being primarily a service business, after a relatively short period as a hit-driven product business. It's not uncommon to hear a fan talking about buying a product specifically to support the creator.
- wolfgke 7y ago
  > It's not uncommon to hear a fan talking about buying a product specifically to support the creator. A consideration: Could a reason for this also be that people do want to avoid that their money goes to "evil media companies" who will use this money to fight against them (think DRM, think anti-consumer legislation etc.)?
- Silhouette 7y ago
  It's not uncommon to hear a fan talking about buying a product specifically to support the creator. And that sentiment is great, but while it's not unusual, it's certainly not the view that most people take. If even 10% of the people who like our stuff on social media and enjoy using the free versions actually paid even for the cheapest one-off purchase or shortest subscription to support the creators, I'd be writing to you from great hall of my palace right now.
scarejunba 7y ago
Trade secrets are protected only by intellectual property regimes, and we're talking about a world without intellectual property.
- wolfgke 7y ago
  > Trade secrets are protected only by intellectual property regimes, and we're talking about a world without intellectual property. Not in Germany. In Germany, there exists a class of criminal acts that are subsumed unter the umbrella term "Geheimnisverrat" (secret betrayal), which also includes revealing trade secrets: > https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geheimnisverrat&oldid=183191368 https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geheimnisverrat&o...
  - deadmetheny 7y ago
    That's still just enforcement of intellectual property.
    - wolfgke 7y ago
      > That's still just enforcement of intellectual property. No, in German law, this is a completely different criminal offence.
      - partitionman 7y ago
        Ah, I see, so we could abolish IP law by renaming it to Conditionally Shared Secrets and keeping all provisions the same? No, that would be ridiculous. The concept of intellectual property is obviously unaffected by the implementation of the enforcement regime.
        wolfgke 7y ago
        > Ah, I see, so we could abolish IP law by renaming it to Conditionally Shared Secrets and keeping all provisions the same? I will try to explain it to you again: the purpose of all the criminal offences that are subsumed under "Geheimnisverrat" in German law is to punish leaking confidential information (e.g. trade secrets). For example, a movie that is available on a BluRay disc, is not confidential because you can easily buy it. Thus, copying a BluRay disc etc. is does not belong under the umbrella term "Geheimnisverrat" because the content of the BluRay disc is not confidential data, but copyrighted. Thus, in German law, Urheberrechtsverletzung (roughly and often translated with "copyright violation", though not identical) and Geheimnisverrat (secret betrayal) are very different criminal acts.

rubinelli 7y ago

Entertainment seems to be swinging back to being primarily a service business, after a relatively short period as a hit-driven product business. It's not uncommon to hear a fan talking about buying a product specifically to support the creator.

wolfgke 7y ago
> It's not uncommon to hear a fan talking about buying a product specifically to support the creator. A consideration: Could a reason for this also be that people do want to avoid that their money goes to "evil media companies" who will use this money to fight against them (think DRM, think anti-consumer legislation etc.)?
Silhouette 7y ago
It's not uncommon to hear a fan talking about buying a product specifically to support the creator. And that sentiment is great, but while it's not unusual, it's certainly not the view that most people take. If even 10% of the people who like our stuff on social media and enjoy using the free versions actually paid even for the cheapest one-off purchase or shortest subscription to support the creators, I'd be writing to you from great hall of my palace right now.

scarejunba 7y ago

Trade secrets are protected only by intellectual property regimes, and we're talking about a world without intellectual property.

wolfgke 7y ago
> Trade secrets are protected only by intellectual property regimes, and we're talking about a world without intellectual property. Not in Germany. In Germany, there exists a class of criminal acts that are subsumed unter the umbrella term "Geheimnisverrat" (secret betrayal), which also includes revealing trade secrets: > https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geheimnisverrat&oldid=183191368 https://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Geheimnisverrat&o...
- deadmetheny 7y ago
  That's still just enforcement of intellectual property.
  - wolfgke 7y ago
    > That's still just enforcement of intellectual property. No, in German law, this is a completely different criminal offence.
    - partitionman 7y ago
      Ah, I see, so we could abolish IP law by renaming it to Conditionally Shared Secrets and keeping all provisions the same? No, that would be ridiculous. The concept of intellectual property is obviously unaffected by the implementation of the enforcement regime.
      - wolfgke 7y ago
        > Ah, I see, so we could abolish IP law by renaming it to Conditionally Shared Secrets and keeping all provisions the same? I will try to explain it to you again: the purpose of all the criminal offences that are subsumed under "Geheimnisverrat" in German law is to punish leaking confidential information (e.g. trade secrets). For example, a movie that is available on a BluRay disc, is not confidential because you can easily buy it. Thus, copying a BluRay disc etc. is does not belong under the umbrella term "Geheimnisverrat" because the content of the BluRay disc is not confidential data, but copyrighted. Thus, in German law, Urheberrechtsverletzung (roughly and often translated with "copyright violation", though not identical) and Geheimnisverrat (secret betrayal) are very different criminal acts.