Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Legally, morally or ethically speaking, we would not expect that if we went to a movie in a theatre, we would therefore be entitled to a free DVD of that movie, or of its soundtrack, or even a poster of the hot chick in the lead. We know that we are expected, in an honest and ethical society, to pay for that other item, because it is in fact an item separate from the movie we saw in the theatre.
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This is a poor analogy for modern society as people expect just that, to some degree.
Trade Unionists and creatives are the worst in fact....they expect to receive residual compensation for work-for-hire.
If you make a car or paint a set...should you be entitled to payments beyond the work you did to create your small part of the whole...even though you did not absorb the risks involved with creating the whole in the first place?
This is essentially the core belief of collectivists. The truth of the matter is Steve that the cost of making 9000 copies of an ebook or 900 or 90000 is negligible as far as matters of scale and to do so you aren't being deprived of any Real Assets you hold (like actual money) in any level even remotely near that of someone that was buying paper, ink and bindery, or paying someone else to do so.
I'm *in* the Electronic distribution chain...its how I feed my kids.
And at the end of the day, after all rhetoric of "theft" and "entitlement" are cast aside, I know in my heart I'd stand to lose more if I was pressing discs and warehousing inventory.
I know that even if i did, it would cost me more because what i make, annualized over the costs of digital manufacturing is far and away a larger in the pocket profit than hard goods manufacture...AND...I know I contribute FAR LESS to the broader economy by doing so.
While I would LIKE everyone that uses my software to pay me for it...I know in all honesty that if I was making physical product, I would have been done and out of business long ago because every "lost sale" (hate that phrase) would cost so much more.
And Guess what? You know it too...as does anyone else that is tech-saavy. You'd be better served thinking of what you provide as a service....or doing paper pub and taking some far more "tangible" risks.
That is not to say that the digital way doesn't carry its own risks and pitfalls but they are far, far less devastating. Production scales better, etc.