The benefit will both go for and against the consumer... existing works will become more readily available and cheaper if not free but future works will be greatly diminished as authors will no longer be able to support themselves by writing...
I do enjoy meeting, talking to and seeing authors but this is a very minor peripheral thing... what I want is books from authors, they are not performing seals. As for your suggestions, I guess nice ideas but... advertising - who pays for effective ads or do all authors pray for viral (which is totally unpredictable and equally very rare in any endeavour); live performances - how many authors have you actually seen reading in public, being able to write has nothing to do with public performances and few make the grade; book signings - as we're predominantly if not totally going to be reading eBooks, they're a bit difficult to sign so now we're talking about producing a paper version for signing... a few cases maybe but most will be no... who's going to do the special job of print production as it has now been made a specialist niche operation...
Supply and demand maybe symbiotic in nature but there is also an element of parasitism as well... you may think the author as performer is great, me, I'd rather have more books to read from an author who can actually devote time to writing. Using the term artist I feel is a little ingenuous... not that authors aren't artists in the general sense but all artists aren't created equal from a public performance point of view... an author is not a musician is not a sculptor is not a painter etc. Each has particular strengths in what they do but why expect the author as dancing bear when the painter/sculptor etc is allowed to sell a physical expression of their work (and not just the original) and the musician's work is essentially about performing (as well as composition/writing)...
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Originally Posted by djgreedo
The benefit will mostly go to the consumer - no DRM, freedom to copy, and cheap (if not free) content of all kinds (though most content will be produced at lower cost, so maybe no more blockbuster movies).
The artists will be forced to earn their living from secondary sources - advertising, live performances, book signings, etc.
When most people discuss this they get stuck on one side of the debate: either all IP should be free or the creators should be able to keep using an outdated business model. Both sides ignore the fact that supply and demand are symbiotic in nature.
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