Updating the street performer protocol

David Bollier, CopyCan.org - A New Experiment in "Ransom Publishing", On the Commons, September 29, 2006.  Excerpt:

Since the cost of copying of digital works is now virtually nil, one of the primary challenges is getting the middlemen out of the way, or at least forcing him/her to create real value and not be a parasite on the system. The other challenge is finding new ways to pay creators a fair price for their labor. At the Wizards of OS conference in Berlin two weeks ago, a web prototype, Copycan.org, was presented as a possible solution. The website aspires to be an upfront funding vehicle for paying authors for works that will be dedicated to the commons. It's a work-in-progress being put together by a German collective and especially (or so it appears) Joerg Baach and Jan Michael.

Copycan.org invites creators to propose a project – a CD, film, book, whatever – and declare how much money they will need to complete it.  Interested "customers" can then make a contribution to the project.  The money is put in an escrow account at Copycan.org until (and if) enough money is raised for the project to proceed.  If the funding goal is reached, the creator completes the project and releases it to the world under a Creative Commons license. The song or film or text comes unencumbered with digital rights restrictions management (DRM). It is "born free" and can be freely used, without permission or payment, from that point forward. Copycan.org has chosen a great tagline for itself: "Buy it for the commons."

At this point, however, Copycan.org is more of an idea than a working reality....

The idea behind Copycan.org is not entirely new. The payment system has been called the "street performer protocol" or a "ransom publishing model." (See the Wikipedia entry for more.) ...

PS:  For background, see my January 2002 article on the street performer protocol.