(Host)
There’s a phrase, "Information wants to be free" that’s still often
heard in the world of new media technology. But writer and commentator
Bill Schubart wonders how many authors, composers, or artists really
want to give away the results of their creative endeavors.
(Schubart)
"Information wants to be free." This charged statement purportedly
originated with Stewart Brand, of Whole Earth Catalog fame. His catalog
costs $147.20 in paperback from Amazon.
Public media sources all
pay their content producers, acquire and maintain technology and staff,
and ask only for donations – but less than 20% of their audience
members respond .
I write books and I’m not interested in giving
them away. I once owned a record company. Our artists wanted to get
paid to record their music and wanted to be paid if it sold. We wanted
to be paid to manufacture the LPs on which they were sold.
In
fairness, Brand did not mean that all content should be free to
everyone. He was referring to practical and scientific information that
could advance quality of life for people globally. He also understood
intellectual property rights, but a fundamental misunderstanding of his
rallying cry persists today.
The issue is made worse by the
gradual disappearance of hard media since consumer perception of
information’s value unfortunately lies in the medium rather than in its
content.
The day after the Pulitzer Prize committee declined to
declare a fiction winner. I woke up to an Amazon Kindle ad offering the
three finalists for 99 cents each. First I was appalled, then angry,
then sad.
I’ve had many intelligent friends ask me why an ebook
shouldn’t cost 99 cents or an MP3 file of a Bach concerto or rap tune
cost what a single use to since it costs nothing to store or ship. I
take a deep breath and explain that along with the seller of the medium
or the digital download, the author, artist, filmmaker, or composer has a
creative investment and should be paid for their creative endeavor.
Sadly, it’s an "aha moment" for many.
Imagine if publishers
priced their books this way …the content is worth $6.00, ebook delivery
is $8.00, paperback $16 and hard cover $26. It would at least imply some
value to the author’s creativity.
Even in this digital age,
hard media will not disappear except at the most basic commodity level.
The aesthetic value of the medium bearing the content will continue to
appeal to many. The value of a beautifully wrought book will endure.
The
barrier-to-entry that traditional publishers have enjoyed is crumbling,
making it easier for writers, musicians, filmmakers and artists to try
their own hand at publicity and self- promotion, The stigma of "vanity
publishing" is gone and many well-known artists have taken their own
creativity in hand at the business level.
But the emerging
challenge will be how to enable a willing customer to browse, navigate,
and sample millions of uncurated and often appallingly bad new media
releases to find the gems that a publisher used to select and your local
book or record store used to reliably recommend to you.