[ElDiablo666]

Ah this old misdirection. There is no shortage of evidence of voluntary payments for creative works so stop spreading bullshit. How far do you move the goalposts when people mention examples like the Humble Bundles, Nine Inch Nails, etc.?

[freyr]

Nine Inch Nails, etc.?

Go on. You might be able to cite Radiohead's In Rainbows. Did these new distribution models flourish, or were they one-off experiments? NIN's new album is available online now for a fixed price.

[themoonbus]

Nine Inch Nails? Seriously? I'm pretty sure they had already found success through the traditional channels before they had the ability to do something like that.

Crowd funding works in certain contexts, but it's no magic bullet.

[cscurmudgeon]

Don't get me wrong. I like the crowd funding model, but the real world is not so perfect. We should not say "I won't pay for this, since somebody has already paid for it. " That puts everyone in a bad situation.

My policy: Enjoy something? Contribute back (or pay forward) in some tangible way.

There is also the aspect of risk. Do you pay someone before or after they make a product in an unknown market (E.g. Will this game be successful?). Paying for it rewards them for taking that risk.

Of course, if you commission something beforehand, you take away some of this risk, and the artist should gladly part with some of the rewards.