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Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

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jacquesm·

I was hoping someone would notice the irony of that one.

Document the largest copyright violation institution in history and somehow hope that your dvd doesn't get ripped.

What could possibly go wrong :)

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Perhaps this is why they are seeking payment before they even make it. Which is actually not a bad idea; some donors "do some good" or "support the arts" or whatever, the movie makers get to make their movie, and the world as a whole gets a work that it can freely enjoy for the rest of time.

I like that model a lot more than I like "copyright"!

It's called 'the ransom model'. It has been used for plenty of things, including the open sourcing of software (most notably blender).

Or its called being a patron of the artist, if you aren't a bitter cynic.

Not really, if you're a patron you'd give without expecting anything in return. In the ransom model the artist does not release his works until he's received sufficient payment from a large group of people, and those people don't lose their money until there are enough of them to cover the ransom sum.

The big problem with this model is that unpopular works never get made. Even though most good works do have an audience, you do get some people making things that are ahead of the curve, and people aren't ready for them. It can take years before they get noticed, and they could never get made solely based on people paying upfront.

This reminds me of the story of Abbi Hoffman with his book "Steal This Book". The people who wanted it just did as title told them and stole it from the bookshelves. Bookstores didn't want to carry it if it's stolen half the time.

The book still had a huge impact, so it was a success in terms of the values Hoffman espoused in the book.

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