Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Patrons or fans?

Author:Jacob Levy
Posted:7/12/2000; 10:19:06 AM
Topic:Patrons or fans?
Msg #:18488
Prev/Next:18487 / 18489

Do musicians work for patrons or fans? The current model is "work for patrons and the patron will disseminate your work". The patrons are the big five labels with their miriad sattelite "independent" labels.

The internet model says to musicians (and pretty soon to anyone with IntelProp, to borrow a term from Tom Matrullo) "work for us, the fans and we'll reward you".

As they say "the rest is technology". We have to figure out how to compensate the artists, recording studios and so forth. Maybe even the labels because they do have an investment in big-name artists.

This is not a problem. This is an opportunity.

Where do I send the money, for my share of the investment?

Napster proves that once people taste the power, they're no longer sheep. That scares the patrons. Obviously. Did we expect them to let go of any power voluntarily, without any fight? Of course not.

A word to the "patrons" of this world: on the internet you don't have a monopoly any more. Your lock-in strategies don't work here. You will be routed around if you try to block the way. The new digital content world is for fans, not for patrons. If I may make an educated guess, this approach also underlies what Dave is writing about in the new journalism discussion.

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