[amelius]

It seems that in the Patreon model, the creator is the central element, and not the content itself. This seems a bit weird, because it is the content I'm after, not the artist. It may be nice for fans who will buy anything from a particular artist, even if it is worthless when considering just the content.

Also, this seems a lot like "branding & marketing" version 2.0. I don't like branding. And I don't want to like what people write just because of what they have written before. I want to read or listen to work, and then decide if I pay for it.

Do you have a better way of viewing this?

[GhotiFish]

I'm paying for creation, that is what is valuable, not content, content is worthless. Content has infinite supply. Creation is what is limited.

This dissonance has been, and (it seems) will always be, the primary stumbling block in the discussion of the information economy.

Why are pirates immoral? Why are they not immoral? Why is DRM immoral? Why is DRM not immoral? Who owns the copyright? what is fair use?

All to do with information. All fighting this central dissonance.

This is why the Patreon model should be advocated when it comes to information. Because as a tool, the market is utterly unfit to operate in this arena.

[JulianMorrison]

Now that's an interesting point.

And it's one reason why I support Basic Income as an idea. I feel like the potential prevalence of creation is huge. But everybody is wasting away their life in "day jobs".

It's interesting to consider in fact, that Patreon is kind of like a one-person basic income.

[GhotiFish]

Well, day jobs create new content as well, right?

Really I'm not sure basic income enters into this. Patreon is a pretty aggressive arena, only the people that generate public interest get funded, that's not everyone.

[copsarebastards]

I hadn't thought about things in this way, that's very interesting. I guess this applies to software too.

[JulianMorrison]

You pay the NYT for a subscription, not tip after the fact for content.

If you don't like what they make, you stop subscribing.

[copsarebastards]

Are you really making the argument that content creators are uncorrelated with your enjoyment of the content they create? Really?