Special Shout Out to Lawrence Ball, not decomposing.
Free versus premium versus whatever
The “anatomy of a buy” entry covers my first exposure to Beats Antique and the subsequent purchase of the download music. While I have no definitive answers, what happened, before the “band” played the big gig in the desert (Cochello?) — there was a publicity push, and three albums were available from Beats Antique as free downloads. Mailing list kind of a deal, free download for joining the mailing list, which, as of yet, I really don’t get but one or two messages from that list, at least, not yet.
I’m not the least bit disappointed that I got a free album that matches one I bought, the tracks are the same, and I know, with iTunes, the band gets paid.
I’m still — occasionally — scouring local CD stores to see if I can find a hard copy of the album. More from artistic curiosity than anything else.
Free? Give it away? Charge? Give it away to friends? What’s best?
So many factors…you want wide recognition, you need income, your gift is to be shared not hoarded, your intellectual or artistic property is who you are and others should pay for the privilege of sharing, I don’t know…so many ways of looking at it.
I’ve always shared my best ideas for free, wanting them to be out there where they might be turned into reality. It has been a real kick in the head when they’ve been used, all right, and credit for them stolen. The ideas were for free, but should have been attributed. Still, though, I feel a certain sense of pride and acknowledgement when I see them still in use, another generation doesn’t even know where they came from, not even the name of the guy who took the credit. 100 years from now? I’d rather that my work still be around, even if no one cares whose it was–or even remembers.