Quote:
Originally Posted by carld
What value would those things possibly have when every creative effort, save the physical arts like sculpture, can be instantly and legally transmitted to everyone who cares to download a copy? The market for prestige formats can't possibly be very large. It's not very large now, and I don't see it growing under the new no-copyright rules.
Brand recognition is only useful in the sale of items. Plus, do they really apply in a digital non-copyright world? Who cares what company originally produced the book, movie, or music you just downloaded? No one, that's who. Promotion is pointless unless you have a product to sell, which you don't, beside that costs money it doesn't generate money. And distribution will be carried out by torrent, legally, and quickly.
|
Legality is hardly the only thing stopping everyone from torrenting every scrap of media they consume right now. The vast majority of people prefer to have a verifiably authentic copy from a known, trusted source, decreasing the risk of viruses, spyware, defects and distortion. In a world without copyright, there would be even more noise in the signal the farther you got from 'official channels,' increasing the value of brand recognition. In a more open market, there's also more value for consumers in discovering and creators in being discovered, i.e. promotion. Whoever contracts with the creator to distribute their work also simply has it first. All of these things still have value, even if it would need to be leveraged differently than in the present system, and even if that value is diminished in comparison to the present system.
Milking creative works for all they're worth precedes the notion of copyright and will outlast it so long as there is some semblance of intelligent life in the universe.