Tell HN: My Big Idea

[foenix]

Fellow Hackers,

With the latest reincarnation of what is surely to be a new generation of Internet Legislation I pondered a way to solve the artist's intellectual property (IP) dilemma. For a while now, I've had a big idea which has been driving my motivation to learn to hack and create web servers. At this point of my programming life, I feel that I have a strong grasp of foundational computing knowledge and an apprentice understanding of MVC and noSQL architectures. I'm also well versed in python, though I could definitely stand to learn a thing or two. For the most part, I am a lonely hacker and work with non-profit organizations who have little to no understanding of the Internet and computers. So I have spent most of my spare time for the past five years writing code and experimenting and about year of hacking to put food on my table.

But, I do not yet feel that I can accomplish this project alone, and it is much bigger than me.

I call it the Street Performer License, but that's up for discussion as well. In fact, as I explain it, I hope that some keen HNers can help me understand what flaws I would need to work out. Without further ado, here's how I envision it:

Imagine a website or application marketplace in which a series of tv shows, music albums, and software (including games) are purchased in amounts that the customer decides, and once the product has reached a set amount of revenue it is downloadable for no fee. Collections would still be open, but all costs would be deferred to the artists at that point. For the initial round of funding, a set percentage would go into a collective pool for future projects, a small percentage to the publisher for hosting fees, and cost-of-living expenses (optimally, accounting would be entirely transparent). People would be allowed advance copies of material if they made a certain contribution (say, $5 for an album, $10 for a movie or tv series, and $15 for a game or other software). And although these advances would likely be pirated, there is still enough of a market to undertake even the more expensive projects.

I have been speaking with a lot of local artists (local == Vancouver) and they are quite keen to sign up on something like this. I'm sure that this could further bridge relations between hackers and artists.

I'm actually shaking as I write this, because I really wanted to develop this idea to help out my current non-profit (the Vancouver Community Network, I won't plug further; please feel free to google), but now tonight I've realized how much bigger it is than me.

If you're interested in helping out with this project, I've started a gdoc here:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-G7uUazq--HYRCRbXfbDKFJb8GZ3yH55lDWmlcXq2Po/edit

I know that you aren't supposed to start with a group when you have an idea like this, but I also know that I want to see ProtectIP, SOPA, and any other Orrin Hatchesque/Victorian IP models become obsolete, and I could really use your support. Help me with my vision of a world in which artist, programmers, engineers, and scientists can all make a decent living without resorting to harmful IP practices.

Thanks for your time,

~foenix

[Deejahll]

I sunk a lot of thought into a very similar idea a while ago, but then Kickstarter launched. Since it was successful and "close enough" to mine it kindof took the wind out of my sails and I've let the idea languish.

I bought a domain to describe it that is obviously now old and stale and incidentally will expire in about a week.

This page describes my motivation but is light on technical details: http://libazaar.com

This page that I have just reconstructed from older drafts has lots more text: http://libazaar.com/faq.html

Similar ideas other than Kickstarter have been conceived: http://tdaa.digitalproductions.co.uk "The digital art auction" http://www.contingencymarket.com "The contingency market"

There is a name for this Kickstarter-style model: Assurance Contracts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assurance_contract

The "Dominant Assurance Contract" idea mentioned on that Wikipedia article is worth investigating.

For what it's worth, I think that assurance contract style markets provide the only truly fair way to buy and sell goods "made of information" like software, novels, digital art, and digital music in the information age. The price-per-copy model is an artifice imposed by those who don't want to change from the simple old manufacturing-age business models, and our acceptance of those models have enabled them to be grossly overcompensated.

[wmwong]

Have you checked this out before? https://www.sellaband.com/

Your way of crowdsourcing the funds is slightly different though.

It's interesting that the fund is pre-budgeted. Who budgets it? The artist or the customers? From my understanding, the budget is used for accountability purposes. The artist can't just blow it all on random stuff. However, is this too restrictive? Isn't the artist in the best position to determine how much should be spent on what?

Edit: By the way, it's awesome to see that you've already started talking to your target market and getting feedback that they want to join. Have you talked to the other target market. Namely the customers who will be funding? Are they willing to put up the money? Great start so far!

[foenix → wmwong]

Thanks for the link!

I've not only been talking to my target market, but the more I dive into this project, the more I see myself becoming my target market…

I think that I've seen a few collectives run into these sorts of accountability issues, and it would probably be up to the artist with respect to what they'd do for it.

With regards to a TV approach, I already know of two genres with low-hanging fruit: world-wide documentaries/vlogs and talking-head kind of comedy (ala funny or die, parks and recreation, or the office).

I have no idea how to raise money, but I really don't want to raise money until it's already profitable, that way the collective would only be answering to itself.

EDIT: Thinking about it more, a crediting system based on popularity and income could build an incrementally higher fee for making it free, but that money would transparently go into making the production better. Like buying another set for a film, or putting together a music video for a band.

[foenix]

Clickable link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-G7uUazq--HYRCRbXfbDKFJb...

(edit)

Hmm, here's an interesting reddit plea: http://www.reddit.com/r/Minecraft/comments/odbwc/why_dont_ot...

[dangrossman]

So, it's Kickstarter with media hosting?

[foenix → dangrossman]

Yay! A comment!

I guess, but I think there would be more to it. It would have an interface that is similar to humble bundle's and would have a "thermometer" widget to show how much money was needed to fund a project (thus making it free). Unlike kickstarter, people are not necessarily buying stock into the product, they are making a contribution (I'm not a lawyer). Perhaps there could be some more incentivizations such as a reward for being the person to "release" the program via your contribution.