[foepys]

You should read this: https://www.propublica.org/article/the-worlds-email-encrypti...

The person maintaining GnuPG went nearly broke because nobody donated to this widely used project. Only because corporations stepped up, GnuPG didn't go unmaintained.

This is a constant issue and hardly anybody can survive on private donations alone. Government grants and corporate donations keep the lights on.

[strogonoff]

If that was seriously intended as an analogy, it is at best comparing apples to apple tree fertilizer.

One can be appreciated by anyone for its own sake, answering fundamental human needs; the other can only be used by certain qualified technicians.

100% of people who heard my song in background of John Streamer’s Minecraft speedrun are capable of enjoying music for its own sake. (In fact, they may be more likely to listen to my song again and again than rewatch his speedrun. I have gained up to as many new listeners as John has had viewers.)

0% of people who used the app Kyle McDeveloper built on top of my web framework are capable of enjoying a web framework for its own sake. (In fact, 0% of humans are, and only a rounding error would know what it even is. I have not gained anything, so if Kyle is profiting off this I’d rather prefer if he sponsored me on GitHub.)

[foepys]

> 100% of people who heard my song in background of John Streamer’s Minecraft speedrun are capable of enjoying music for its own sake.

Why doesn't the streamer use their marketing power to promote independent musicians that don't have big record label deals then? That would be even better because successful independent musicians weaken the music industry and could lead to more competition.

[strogonoff]

From my understanding (not a vlogger, not a streamer), it may be safe to buy music from content platforms[0] but generally music is tricky business: no matter what you use, you are risking some YouTube music ID bug or frivolous DMCA takedown shutting down your channel at any moment.

Even if you have gotten a green light from the original musician, go prove this to a giant corporation that will never have a human representative speak to you. (Stories about people publishing their own music on YouTube only to get it taken down due to a false positive were posted even on HN, I believe.)

Thus, creators seem to use either 1) no music at all, 2) their own music, or 3) generic-sounding music from some royalty-free content platform.

I am wondering whether Bandcamp will finally do the next logical thing and streamline the process of licensing music for video creators directly from musicians (those who opted in).

[0] For obvious reasons, few good musicians are willing to publish music on those royalty-free commoditized music farms.