Strategy of Copyleft?

[Brendan]

The big conceptual leap with regard to the value of copylefted work is the separation of price from value.  Most widely advertised goods are overpriced, because their sale prices go to pay for a great deal of, well, wide advertisement.  People know that, so when the opportunity comes to obtain an overpriced product for a lower price--or free--they tend to sieze on it.

But people do know the value of a product, and they're willing to pay a fair price for it even when they're not being forced to do so.

Given the choice between paying twenty bucks for a CD of which they've only heard one radio single and paying nothing to get some of its tracks off Kazaa, smart people are going to go with the mp3s.  The RIAA sees this happening and, because they know their (terrible) business model is threatened, try to demonize the "pirates" who take the mp3s.  "Look!" they say.  "Given the choice between paying a fair price and paying nothing, these horrible people always choose to pay nothing!"  Well, no.  They're smart customers who will always choose to pay the price that is closest to fair.

Meanwhile, after hearing some free music from an indie band, and given the chance to pay $10 for a higher-quality CD with cover art and stuff, those smart customers will pay up.  The emerging model is that $10 is the value of a good CD, if you know you like it and know half is going to the artist; $20 isn't, especially when you've only heard one song and the artist is only getting ten percent.

For a non-music example, I could read my favorite webcomic (Checkerboard Nightmare) three times a week for free, if I wanted.  Instead, I give ten bucks every month, because it's worth that much to me.  Actually, it's worth more--I would probably pay twenty bucks if I had to.  But I pay what I'm comfortable with paying, and its author keeps producing content.  He'd keep doing so even if I stopped, but I want to keep doing it, because I have a little money that I want to invest in things I like.

If you put your work out there under a loose license, then yes, some people are going to take it and not pay you.  If your work is good and popular, most of those people would pirate it anyway, even if you'd put it under the strongest copyright lock and key you could.

But the majority of your potential customers aren't just algorithms out to find the lowest possible price; they're people who want to invest some money in a hobby, because they think that hobby has value.  If your work is good (and I have no doubt that it is) and people like it, they'll try it and pay for it, because they'll realize it has value too.