Oh look. Artists. Making money. Without selling 98% of the profits and all creative rights to some middle man only to sue their best customers for "piracy" and make asses of them.
Knowing a little bit about the greed and stupidity of some big publishers; i think they will start panicking soon enough and they will try to do things against kickstarter like force a you-will-never-use-kickstarter-or-anything-like-it agreement to the artists.
It wouldn't have helped them at all in this case. The argument used to be that everything was as it should be because only big media could make you famous enough for this sort of thing to work on a big scale. Uh-oh.
They mostly already do have this sort of thing in all of their contracts. They try to make everything "work for hire" in which the artist retains zero rights to his/her own work. Prince couldn't even keep calling himself Prince without a legal fight to the death.
The more worrying possibility is that a certain type of busybody who can't/doesn't create anything says to himself "People shouldn't just be able to succeed like this! There should be laws! Why wasn't I consulted?!" in not so many words and goes about trying to remedy this perceived failure.
The argument used to be that everything was as it should be because only big media could make you famous enough for this sort of thing to work on a big scale. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh is right. This is the sort of thing that Scott McCloud wanted to bring about with micropayments -- a more direct connection between artists and their fans.
According to the "Economics of Anime" post, it should be possible now for people to revive gone but beloved shows in that medium on Kickstarter. New episode of Firefly, anyone?
Doing something like that would be as important as Louis CK's video. It would be another step towards the fall of the media status quo.
> According to the "Economics of Anime" post, it should be possible now for people to revive gone but beloved shows in that medium on Kickstarter. New episode of Firefly, anyone?
That IP is owned by Fox isn't it? Surely Fox would notice the large amount of cash on the table and demand a large percentage cut of it.
I think this model only works for well-known creators making new work. So Joss Whedon could make something new by using his popularity to raise funds...
(Edit: not to ignore the unknown people out there using kickstarter to make work. They're a workable model too)
Well, perhaps if someone were able to get an offer in writing of what Fox would accept, then start the Kickstarter to raise the funds? Seems like it would work fine...
Fox would want to know the final amount raised before setting a price. They don't know what its worth until you tell them... then they'll want 108% of the amount you raise in advance.
I suspect its far better for an exec at a company like Fox to simply prevent anyone from ever using a property again than to be seen as even a tiny bit giving it away when more could have been charged.
...they'll want 108% of the amount you raise in advance.
I suspect its far better for an exec at a company like Fox to simply prevent anyone from ever using a property again than to be seen as even a tiny bit giving it away when more could have been charged.
There are ways to address this. For one thing, you don't have to tell them you're going to Kickstarter it. (You'll need other initial backers in this case, though.) For another thing, you can set out the expenses ahead of time and promise the actors the overage as a "promotional bonus." This lets the exec save face and it motivates the actors to promote the project.
I suspect (but have no evidence for) studios being able to get a lot more money selling the rights to another studio, rather than crowd-sourced single episodes.
Comments
Oh look. Artists. Making money. Without selling 98% of the profits and all creative rights to some middle man only to sue their best customers for "piracy" and make asses of them.
Kickstarter. Its like "piracy" running backwards.
Knowing a little bit about the greed and stupidity of some big publishers; i think they will start panicking soon enough and they will try to do things against kickstarter like force a you-will-never-use-kickstarter-or-anything-like-it agreement to the artists.
It wouldn't have helped them at all in this case. The argument used to be that everything was as it should be because only big media could make you famous enough for this sort of thing to work on a big scale. Uh-oh.
They mostly already do have this sort of thing in all of their contracts. They try to make everything "work for hire" in which the artist retains zero rights to his/her own work. Prince couldn't even keep calling himself Prince without a legal fight to the death.
The more worrying possibility is that a certain type of busybody who can't/doesn't create anything says to himself "People shouldn't just be able to succeed like this! There should be laws! Why wasn't I consulted?!" in not so many words and goes about trying to remedy this perceived failure.
Several methods they can attempt;
1) Tax/Licence fee. Look at Germany taxing Google News et al for the News collection societies.
2) Put pressure on the financial areas they're allowing money. There's a reason why KickStarter isn't adopting PayPal.
3) Negative media campaign highlighting fraudulent abuses of trusting users.
The argument used to be that everything was as it should be because only big media could make you famous enough for this sort of thing to work on a big scale. Uh-oh.
Uh-oh is right. This is the sort of thing that Scott McCloud wanted to bring about with micropayments -- a more direct connection between artists and their fans.
According to the "Economics of Anime" post, it should be possible now for people to revive gone but beloved shows in that medium on Kickstarter. New episode of Firefly, anyone?
Doing something like that would be as important as Louis CK's video. It would be another step towards the fall of the media status quo.
> According to the "Economics of Anime" post, it should be possible now for people to revive gone but beloved shows in that medium on Kickstarter. New episode of Firefly, anyone?
That IP is owned by Fox isn't it? Surely Fox would notice the large amount of cash on the table and demand a large percentage cut of it.
I think this model only works for well-known creators making new work. So Joss Whedon could make something new by using his popularity to raise funds...
(Edit: not to ignore the unknown people out there using kickstarter to make work. They're a workable model too)
Well, perhaps if someone were able to get an offer in writing of what Fox would accept, then start the Kickstarter to raise the funds? Seems like it would work fine...
Fox would want to know the final amount raised before setting a price. They don't know what its worth until you tell them... then they'll want 108% of the amount you raise in advance.
I suspect its far better for an exec at a company like Fox to simply prevent anyone from ever using a property again than to be seen as even a tiny bit giving it away when more could have been charged.
...they'll want 108% of the amount you raise in advance.
I suspect its far better for an exec at a company like Fox to simply prevent anyone from ever using a property again than to be seen as even a tiny bit giving it away when more could have been charged.
There are ways to address this. For one thing, you don't have to tell them you're going to Kickstarter it. (You'll need other initial backers in this case, though.) For another thing, you can set out the expenses ahead of time and promise the actors the overage as a "promotional bonus." This lets the exec save face and it motivates the actors to promote the project.
I suspect (but have no evidence for) studios being able to get a lot more money selling the rights to another studio, rather than crowd-sourced single episodes.