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>You can't expect people to pay for something that literally costs nothing once it has been created. So how are software developers, authors and musicians supp

>You can't expect people to pay for something that literally costs nothing once it has been created. So how are software developers, authors and musicians supposed to make a living?

drnick1 10mo ago
Authors and musicians, unless they are extremely successful, don't make a living from royalties. Income mostly comes from live performances and merchandise. As for software development, the open source model clearly shows that money can be made. Also, most software out there isn't actually distributed and is internal to a business or company.
- hermitcrab 10mo ago
  Authors who are not extremely successful get their income from live performances and merchandise, not royaties? Any authors here care to comment? >As for software development, the open source model clearly shows that money can be made Ok, so I sell data wrangling software for Windows and Mac for $99 per license. Mostly to people who aren't programmers. Kindly tell me how that would work with an open source model.
  - drnick1 10mo ago
    > Kindly tell me how that would work with an open source model. Even without copyright, nothing prevents your from selling software. Chances are people who don't want to pay for your software already don't. If paying for software adds value otherwise (such as access to updates and support), people will still pay for it.
- Mashimo 10mo ago
  > the open source model clearly shows that money can be made. Does it?
  - hermitcrab 10mo ago
    I know lots of professional Indie software developers. I can't think of a single one that uses an open source model.
m0llusk 10mo ago
The tradition of earning money from copies failed when going digital made the cost of copies go nearly to zero. Money now needs to be made from other channels like experiences and new models like pay to release where the work is only teased with previews until enough money is given to release the full version.
- com2kid 10mo ago
  The economics on making an ebook are roughly the same as a print book. The marginal cost of production of a cheap paperback is marginal, the upfront cost is large. The few pennies that are saved with digital distribution are not a huge game changer regarding the finances of publishing.
  - Kon5ole 10mo ago
    I assume you are speaking as a publisher and considering costs of marketing, editors, lawyers and such? Otherwise printing and distributing 1000 copies of a book is surely vastly more expensive compared to having 1000 downloads of an epub file.
    - com2kid 10mo ago
      Authors and publishers have written on this topic extensively. Blog posts about it periodically gets posted to HN. Most of the cost to publish a book is upfront. Editing, laying, cover art, diagrams, etc. It costs less than $2 to print a book in bulk quantities. Margins suck. That is why publishers go out of business all the time. Margins aren't any better on ebooks. It costs money to maintain a digital store front. For an example of the costs of digital distribution in another field, look at Good Old Games. They are a digital distribution platform and they barely break even / turn a profit. (A bit more complicated since they also do some of the porting work) Digital distribution has super low per unit costs but huge upfront costs.
  - m0llusk 10mo ago
    If that were really true then the practice of taking cuts from the cost of copies to pay everyone involved would still be working, but it isn't. And there appear to be differences between media, for example daily papers are different from novels are different from songs are different from albums and so on.
prmoustache 10mo ago
> So how are software developers, authors and musicians supposed to make a living? bounties, commissions, live concerts, patronage. Software devs are a fairly new concept but traditionally artists aren't expected to make a living of their work, more like barely surviving.

>You can't expect people to pay for something that literally costs nothing once it has been created. So how are software developers, authors and musicians supposed to make a living?

drnick1 10mo ago

Authors and musicians, unless they are extremely successful, don't make a living from royalties. Income mostly comes from live performances and merchandise. As for software development, the open source model clearly shows that money can be made. Also, most software out there isn't actually distributed and is internal to a business or company.

hermitcrab 10mo ago
Authors who are not extremely successful get their income from live performances and merchandise, not royaties? Any authors here care to comment? >As for software development, the open source model clearly shows that money can be made Ok, so I sell data wrangling software for Windows and Mac for $99 per license. Mostly to people who aren't programmers. Kindly tell me how that would work with an open source model.
- drnick1 10mo ago
  > Kindly tell me how that would work with an open source model. Even without copyright, nothing prevents your from selling software. Chances are people who don't want to pay for your software already don't. If paying for software adds value otherwise (such as access to updates and support), people will still pay for it.
Mashimo 10mo ago
> the open source model clearly shows that money can be made. Does it?
- hermitcrab 10mo ago
  I know lots of professional Indie software developers. I can't think of a single one that uses an open source model.

m0llusk 10mo ago

The tradition of earning money from copies failed when going digital made the cost of copies go nearly to zero. Money now needs to be made from other channels like experiences and new models like pay to release where the work is only teased with previews until enough money is given to release the full version.

com2kid 10mo ago
The economics on making an ebook are roughly the same as a print book. The marginal cost of production of a cheap paperback is marginal, the upfront cost is large. The few pennies that are saved with digital distribution are not a huge game changer regarding the finances of publishing.
- Kon5ole 10mo ago
  I assume you are speaking as a publisher and considering costs of marketing, editors, lawyers and such? Otherwise printing and distributing 1000 copies of a book is surely vastly more expensive compared to having 1000 downloads of an epub file.
  - com2kid 10mo ago
    Authors and publishers have written on this topic extensively. Blog posts about it periodically gets posted to HN. Most of the cost to publish a book is upfront. Editing, laying, cover art, diagrams, etc. It costs less than $2 to print a book in bulk quantities. Margins suck. That is why publishers go out of business all the time. Margins aren't any better on ebooks. It costs money to maintain a digital store front. For an example of the costs of digital distribution in another field, look at Good Old Games. They are a digital distribution platform and they barely break even / turn a profit. (A bit more complicated since they also do some of the porting work) Digital distribution has super low per unit costs but huge upfront costs.
- m0llusk 10mo ago
  If that were really true then the practice of taking cuts from the cost of copies to pay everyone involved would still be working, but it isn't. And there appear to be differences between media, for example daily papers are different from novels are different from songs are different from albums and so on.

prmoustache 10mo ago

> So how are software developers, authors and musicians supposed to make a living? bounties, commissions, live concerts, patronage. Software devs are a fairly new concept but traditionally artists aren't expected to make a living of their work, more like barely surviving.