[secede] -- information wants to be free
Information is precious. The right information at the right time can quite literally change our lives. Information — words, music, videos — also takes time and money to produce.
At the same time, the cost of *distributing* information has dropped to nearly zero. (Sort of) free tools allow anyone with an internet connection to publish a blog post, post a video, or upload a song.
Before the internet, artists sold their work to publishing companies that produced and distributed physical copies. It made sense to charge money for books and records because someone had to create the physical products. Although the internet has eliminated the need for physical distribution, many creators stubbornly cling to the old model by demanding payment for digital products. This approach is both unethical and ultimately self-defeating for several reasons.
(1) It does not scale. If someone creates a truly remarkable ebook, video, or piece of music and tries to put it behind a paywall, someone will eventually liberate it. The only things that can live forever behind paywalls are obscure mediocrities. And who wants to create an obscure mediocrity?
(2) Paywalls stifle growth and create ill will. They drive away casual visitors who could have become diehard fans.
(3) Paywalls run counter to the founding idea of the internet — free and decentralized access to information. From a purely practical perspective, constantly recreating the same thing (every online store must have a digital cart, every online educational service must have a video about the Pythagorean Theorem, etc.) wastes an enormous number of man hours. It would be better for everyone if these “public utilities” were made freely available to avoid endlessly reinventing the wheel.
(4) Creating a copy does not rob anyone of anything because information is not a finite resource. Someone else having information does not prevent me from having it too.
(5) The price of anything is determined by how scarce it is. Paywalls create false scarcity by artificially limiting supply. It is the digital equivalent of burning crops.
It is impossible to enforce payment for quality digital products in the long term. Therefore, the only viable option is *voluntary* payment.