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Journalism is the most depressing career lately. I think taxes should be raised (on the wealthy) and that artists, journalists, performers, etc. should have ea
by logn 12y ago
Journalism is the most depressing career lately.
I think taxes should be raised (on the wealthy) and that artists, journalists, performers, etc. should have easy access to government-funded royalties. And I think this would be a good way to fund open source too, so that projects such as OpenSSL don't wither on the vine.
The royalties could be at rates specific to each niche (adjusted so that pop superstars are compensated similarly to journalists). But within these categories, compensation is proportional to your public audience. (Edit: proportional on some sort of exponential scale, so that every legitimate professional can make a decent living)
Note: this is basically Richard Stallman's idea. +1 internet dollar to him.
- alvarosm 12y agoThis is very wrong. You're giving the state the power to control journalism. As for the audience deciding what's worthy, you'll get Jersey Shore quality or worse.
- logn 12y agoASCAP tracks radio plays and online streams. It's the federally designated company to handle royalty payments to musicians/performers. I don't think the government controls music. If journalists' royalties were based on defined metrics, I don't see this increasing government control. As far as audience taste, you're certainly right. However, balancing this are the type of people supporting IndieGoGo, Kickstarter, and NPR. I think it would take a lot of planning and research to design optimal rules for a royalty program like this. But I think the chances of getting good results are better than the current path we're on.