|
Harry:
I can see how my description would bear little resemblance to your practical experience as a textbook author. I also am unaware of any existing model (fast, easy, and nearly free distribution of non-infringing content) as it relates to textbooks.
Joel recognized and agreed that scarcity doesn’t exist in the world of digital goods and my commentary was meant to take the discussion to the next level in terms of how content creators of digital goods could be compensated in a future of abundance where the value of said good quickly approaches zero.
Nearly everyone is familiar with iTunes. While iTunes is fast, easy, and nearly free when it comes to the distribution cost of content, many musicians actually benefit less from sales of non-infringing content through this distribution model as a percentage of sales than they would through artificially scarce content sales.
My point being, that while this particular business model has adapted to marketplace demands for digital content, content creators themselves haven’t benefited proportionally.
Dumas
|