"Let My Content Go!"

Felicia Day, probably best known for her role in Joss Whedon's Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, produced a wonderfully quirky web series about online gamers. This isn't anything new or extremely revolutionary. I mean, who hasn't heard of Lonelygirl15? What's most interesting about Day's project lies in where she obtained her funding, i.e. how the girl got paid!

In her own words:


Oh, yes, it's happening. People are already paying for content. The difference lies in the sole fact that it is their choice. As paradoxical as Barry Schwartz might think it is, we, the people (and consumers), know what we like. Especially when it comes to art, entertainment and information. According to Lanier, designers and software engineers need to reformat the internet, attune the system to reassemble the free content and fair use initiative, possibly to make it kind of free content and maybe-sorta fair use. I fail to see how, once again, forcing people to pay for something uncertain is a move in the right direction. Looking at Felicia Day's project as an example, it seems as though Lanier hasn't really done his research.

As Kevin Kelly explains in Better Than Free:

Fans like to reward artists, musicians, authors and the like with the tokens of their appreciation, because it allows them to connect. But they will only pay if it is very easy to do, a reasonable amount, and they feel certain the money will directly benefit the creators.

True, Felicia Day creates television-style entertainment, and how does that have anything to do with Journalism? Here's the thing: Not all professional journalists are outstanding. Much like web television. Which then begs the question: Why should we have to pay for their content?

Instead, I think Lanier should have asked: Why should we charge? As there is nothing more affordable than free.