rjk 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: Good Question: How The Hell Did The NYT Spend $40 Million On That Paywall?

    rjk ( profile ), 28 Mar, 2011 @ 09:12am

    I'm guessing that some of it involved user testing.

    and none of those users discovered that going to the url address bar, removing the &gwh=[long-alphanumeric-code] from the address and hitting enter would bypass the pay wall?

  • On the post: How To Get Elected Officials To Actually Hear Our Worries About Censorship: Speak Up!

    rjk ( profile ), 07 Mar, 2011 @ 10:47pm

    TED Talk: Political change with pen and paper

    Here's a short TED talk on how to get results when writing a letter to a politician.

    http://www.ted.com/talks/omar_ahmad_political_change_with_pen_and_paper.html

  • On the post: Folk Singer Just Notices That Led Zeppelin May Have Copied His Song Forty Years Ago

    rjk ( profile ), 30 Jun, 2010 @ 02:44pm

    Doesn't this kinda demonstrate that it's the execution not the idea?

  • On the post: Can One Guy Educate The World Via YouTube?

    rjk ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2010 @ 04:56pm

    Sal @ GEL

    great talk from Sal about the Khan Academy at GEL.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTXKCzrFh3c

  • On the post: Evidence Suggests RIAA Labels Behind 'Grassroots Citizen's Group' Supporting Canadian DMCA

    rjk ( profile ), 16 Jun, 2010 @ 07:19pm

    Re: Grassroots

    I expect there are one or two politicians that believe it could be a grassroots citizen's group or at least publicly parrot claims that they are.

  • On the post: Time To Live In Reality: People Are Going To Copy; So Build A Better Business Model

    rjk ( profile ), 27 May, 2010 @ 11:08am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    d'oh. I missed that, sorry.

  • On the post: Time To Live In Reality: People Are Going To Copy; So Build A Better Business Model

    rjk ( profile ), 27 May, 2010 @ 10:11am

    Re: Re:

    you can find the rest of Anonymous Coward's comments here...
    http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/index.php/archives/2010/05/25/ted-talk-simon-sinek/

  • On the post: Jill Sobule Goes Into The Studio With CwF+RtB

    rjk ( profile ), 02 Apr, 2010 @ 09:54am

    Re: Re: Re: Show me the money!!

    I understand your point and prefer not to use the word myself. But in this case I wanted to make a point without cluttering it with talk about whether or not file sharers are thieves, because file sharers aren't the core problem.

  • On the post: Jill Sobule Goes Into The Studio With CwF+RtB

    rjk ( profile ), 01 Apr, 2010 @ 05:47pm

    Re: Show me the money!!

    using common assumptions for size of fan base, number of concerts, distribution, sources of revenue, etc.?

    what common assumptions? common for 1980? What good are those gonna be in the digital world of 2010 and beyond?

    traditional business model that is being destroyed by thieves

    Thieves aren't destroying traditional models. They are a symptom not the root cause. Today's technology is destroying traditional models. Production, reproduction, distribution and marketing costs have dropped significantly. Thieves exist because some people still want to sell $1 plastic discs for $15 and digital files for $1 when it's possible to reproduce and distribute music for $0. The thieves are merely filling a gap in the market. Offer a reasonable product at a reasonable price and the thieves will, for the most part, disappear.

  • On the post: Confused Musician Threatens Google, Blog Because Her Works Are Found Elsewhere On The Internet

    rjk ( profile ), 24 Feb, 2010 @ 09:49am

    Re: Except...

    Her ignorance turns into an excuse to divert attention from the indisputable issue that is at the core of all these discussions, writers and performers are being ripped off.

    I have a choice to make... I can legitimately purchase a $1 piece of plastic for $13 or I can download pirated music for $0. If I download pirated digital files, I'm a thief. If I pay $13 for a $1 piece of plastic the Artist is a thief.

    Until I can purchase a digital album (high quality format) for $2.50 or a CD for $5-7 writers and performers can keep their mouth shut.

  • On the post: Connecting With Fans Is An Ongoing Process: Do Something Small Weekly, Big Monthly

    rjk ( profile ), 21 Feb, 2010 @ 04:30pm

    Re: not sure about the connect with fans bit

    A lot of very gifted musicians never made a dime in the previous business model either.

    But nothing I've seen in the cwf + rtb model suggests musicians need to be 'great' marketers, 'total' extroverts and spend 'equal' parts making music and interacting with fans.

    The reality is that the record industry has been turned upside down and we are in a period of a bit of chaos as we try to sort out what works and doesn't work. And if it turns out that some models don't work well for some musicians, well, we'll just have to figure out what does work for those musicians. But there's no reason to dismiss a model because it might not work for everyone.

  • On the post: Digital Britain Minister Insists No One Is Creative If They Don't Earn Money

    rjk ( profile ), 15 Feb, 2010 @ 11:00am

    Re:

    yes, because only the IP maximalists and their paid for political partners are allowed arguments that are ALL hysterics and NO logic, reason or evidence.

  • On the post: CBC: When We Said Blogs Would Need Permission To Quote Us, We Didn't Really Mean It

    rjk ( profile ), 03 Feb, 2010 @ 12:28pm

    Re: Re: Copyright itself is a sword of Damocles

    Why would you assume every publisher is going to publish their own version of every good book?

  • On the post: Finding The Long Tail In Music

    rjk ( profile ), 25 Jan, 2010 @ 06:08pm

    Steve Lawson on Obsurity

    Steve Lawson comments on Tom Silvermen's thoughts in this post. http://www.stevelawson.net/2010/01/quick-thoughts-on-obscurity/

    So this is a made-up measurement - it?s what ?we? (no mention of who ?we? are), arbitrarily decided, that selling 10,000 records makes you not obscure. Why? How? Nope, nothing. Just that ?people know about you?. Very scientific and verifiable. ?People?.

    It?s also based on ?Soundscan? statistics. By Soundscan?s reckoning, I?ve sold about 3% of my actual sales across my career ? that?s how many have gone through the Soundscan system. Not a single one of my gig sales, my own website sales, bandcamp sales, CDbaby sales have gone through Soundscan. So this tells us that 1500 artists have reported 10K sales to Soundscan. And that?s apparently a story about obscurity?

  • On the post: If Your Options Are To Change With The Times Or To Just Complain About Them, Which Is More Likely To Work?

    rjk ( profile ), 18 Jan, 2010 @ 02:06pm

    DJ Shadow makes the same mistake that others (including Trent Reznor) have made. He talks about his music having value and that the price of a CD somehow reflects that value. But how much of that money actually pays of the music? Unless, you are a big name artist little money actually gets to the musician. At best the artist sees $1-2. It's silly for any artist to think their music is worth $5, $10 or $13 when most of the money goes to pay for manufacturing, distribution, marketing plus girls (and/or boys), drugs, houses, vacations & boats for record execs.

  • On the post: So A Lawyer, A Comedian And An Economist Walk Into A Bar… Copyright, Reputation And Comedy

    rjk ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2009 @ 09:00pm

    Re: grey and dull

    "today's youth culture doesn't grasp the concept that stealing someone else's ideas is wrong."

    It's kinda hard to grasp the concept when EVERYBODY 'steals' ideas ALL the time.

    Commenting on a post. Your idea?
    Paragraphs, words and letters. Your idea?
    Concept of Intellectual Property. Your idea?

  • On the post: The Creator's Dilemma On Others Making Money Off Your Content

    rjk ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2009 @ 09:41am

    Re:

    "I have to ask, really, if someone were to write a crawler for this site that takes all your articles and then makes an iphone app that allows ppl to view them with a different interface and with no mention of you at all, would you not be the least bit upset?"

    Don't go there...

  • On the post: The Creator's Dilemma On Others Making Money Off Your Content

    rjk ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2009 @ 09:35am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: stealing for profit

    So you don't steal ideas? Interesting.

    All culture builds on the past. People are constantly 'stealing' ideas. Louis Vuitton didn't invent luggage, he 'stole' the idea and made his own version. No one creates anything without borrowing an idea or two.

    So if you see a creator selling his own works in some way you hadn't thought of before, you aren't going to copy his idea for your own works?

    Of course, your Louis Vuitton argument is kinda silly. People who purchase a $50 knock-off of a LV handbag wouldn't be buying the $1200 original if the knock-off wasn't available.

    Sure it's the vendor's choice? But what's the best approach for the comic in this story? Get into a legal battle? or provide his own app?

  • On the post: The Creator's Dilemma On Others Making Money Off Your Content

    rjk ( profile ), 11 Dec, 2009 @ 08:58am

    Re: Re: stealing for profit

    Consider looking at it a different way.

    These pirates are filling a market need you aren't. Why aren't you filling that need?

    Why aren't you viewing pirates as your R&D and marketing departments.

    Why aren't you 'stealing' their good ideas and using those ideas to make you money?

    People spend so much time, money and energy worrying about and fighting pirates. Use them to your advantage.

  • On the post: Pomplamoose: Making A Living Without A CD Or A Label

    rjk ( profile ), 09 Dec, 2009 @ 05:43pm

    Re:

    You'll notice they make their covers available for free... I assume that's how they avoid having to pay.

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