>its not true that they don't value add; its just that their value adding happens once - the cost of production is borne by media companies, and they assume the

>its not true that they don't value add; its just that their value adding happens once - the cost of production is borne by media companies, and they assume the risk of not making back their investment money. The value they created then is the possibility of a good work being created. Investment is not a value-adding activity. When you invest, others' value-adding is what makes your investment grow. The value-adders are the people who take your capital and use it to make something of greater value than the principal amount you invested. You're onto something when you mention commissioning works of art, though. Currently the motivation for companies to invest in the production of art is the ROI they can get from (exclusively) selling copies of the art, as guaranteed by copyrights. If copyrights are technologically obsolete because copying is now virtually free, then we as a society do need to find a new way to finance the creation of large-scale, expensive works of art--if we still want to enjoy that type of entertainment, that is.