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Comment by agustif | Hacker News Reader

I've this crazy idea for a de-centralized pirate-media aggregator that could fix piracy by going the pay what you want route.

I would only pay back to creators directly, no copyright holders, no studios..

Wonder how that would go...

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I am an independent producer. The intent of your proposal is to send me all the money so I should like that. But let’s talk about the realities. To make a show or movie I need financing and that comes from a studio. To recover my own expenses and hopefully earn a profit I need to sell distribution rights across different geographies to different copyright holders. These entities exist for a reason. Look everyone would like to pay zero for infinite content but the reality is that without payments there is no content.

If it's a free choice between paying and not paying for a product, most people will simply not pay because that's the simplest option. Paying what you want actually is much more complicated because you end up having to try and establish the value of something to you, again much easier to just pay zero.

On the otherhand, people will support people directly to create, patreon already fills that niche, but in that respect "you" the creator are the product not just what you create.

> most people will simply not pay because that's the simplest option.

I would disagree with that. If you are young and tech/internet savy and have time then sure. But if I get back home after days work. All I have time/strength for is to put on netflix to watch the show i heard from a friend.

Convenience trumps piracy. As long as its more convenient.

The moment I need to figure out if that show is on Netflix Hulo or Amazon, etc the convenience factor is diminishing.

I will check if its no netflix, no... hbo... no ah fuck it, piratebay it is.

> On the otherhand, people will support people directly to create, patreon already fills that niche, but in that respect "you" the creator are the product not just what you create.

I have monthly budget for patreon to support people I like. There is a lot of high quality niche content that I want to see being made so I chip in.

Have people put their card details in first to minimise friction later on?

Piracy is already back on the uptick because of all the streaming services. Wouldn't be surprised if in a couple years, the industry goes through another panic like they did 20 years earlier with online piracy.

I thought about that before too. Who would you pay for a blockbuster like LOTR? The problem remains the same.

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