Micropayments

For years now there’s been the struggle between those who want to be paid for their work and consumers who basically don’t want to pay. They don’t understand how a virtual product, made up of nothing but electrical codes, should be anything but free.

The way I see it, the problem is of extremes, on both sides. Large companies think they can continue to charge absurd prices, when the disguise of the unknown industrial processes has been unveiled, and we’ve suddenly realized that 20$+ for one digital album isn’t very reasonable. And consumers want what they want, regardless of whatever sacrifices went in to creating that product, even if nothing had to be physically purchased or manufactured.

We’ve been getting better though. We’ve been blaming potentially exploitative distribution companies, and proudly claiming that we would pay the artist directly if we could, knowing full well that it can’t be done in any reasonable way.

Well now we can. I suppose we always could, but now it’s at a place where it’s easy enough to suit this lazy generation’s lifestyle.

Micropayment systems are popping up everywhere. Apparently Paypal defines a “micropayment” as any payment under 12$ USD. I’m more impressed with the under a dollar products, but 9.99$ for a full album seems about right to me.

The most obvious is the app stores. 99¢ apps are just too easy. They fly in under the radar, and even when they add up unexpectedly, it’s never for more than the price of a meal.

As the introductory video for Flattr reminds us, “many small streams forms a river.” I think this is the perfect philosophy. Instead of targeting a privileged luxury market, make it actually affordable and count on creating quality work to fatten your paycheck.

So far, Apple has been the only one to really get a hold of this concept. The iPhone is more of a store than complete device. The iPad is likely to introduce micropayments to the publishing and magazine industries. The iTunes store has been applying it to music and movies for awhile now. 4.99$ to own a movie is crushing Blockbuster, and rightfully so, it’s just more reasonable. I’m not sure what “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is thinking with 2.49$ an episode, and someone has to be fired for “Battlestar Galactica” coming up to over 60$ for one season. But for the most part, prices are coming around.

Of course, it all being centralized by Apple is terrifying, and legitimately so. Luckily, we won’t stand for it. The whole point of “hacking” an iPhone is to give you access to stores outside of Apple’s esoteric approval. Paypal donation buttons have been generating pretty substantial incomes for content creators for awhile now. And the guys from the Piratebay, a torrenting site (which I would say has been providing the counterweight to ridiculous market prices), have come up with a solution.

They call it Flattr. Basically, you put on your account as much money as you want. When you find content that you like and want to show your approval, you hit the flatter button. At the end of the month your account balance gets distributed equally to however many people you “flattr”-d over that month. In the end, you see more content, people receive the funding to keep creating more content (for you to see), and no one has to feel bad about being under-appreciated or guilty about stealing.

Necessity brings change. Things weren’t working and we just needed a bit of creativity. This model could employ a lot of us, just like I’m sure you know at least one person working for an app company. Let’s not loose our heads and allow things like ISP’s trying to regulate web traffic in an attempt to “fight piracy.” Let’s step back and isolate the real problems first. I’m living even less than a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle, but I can still afford 10$-20$ a month for education/news/entertainment. Especially if it feeds the same system that allows me to live and eat. Isn’t that called an “economy”?

http://flattr.com