What does HN think of free content like audio clips and samples, stock photography, etc? I think it is different than free software where folks are contributing as a community and can sometimes thrive as a business by providing support. IMO free "hard" content such as this is destroying a lot of small content creators that used to earn a living but are now forced to abandon their professions. I fear it will create a bimodal distribution - top notch large houses (Getty Images, for e.g.) and free distribution sites (Unsplash) and nothing in the middle.
I fear a society that is used to free stuff all the time.
"You wasted $150,000 on an education you coulda got for $1.50 in late fees at the public library." -- Will Hunting
And yet people still pay to go to college. It is okay.
Yes, the distribution of CC and GPL work products at negligible cost does cut into the revenue streams of existing business models. However, there will always be something to do for others that is both engaging and adds value to their lives. Furthermore, Mozart hasn't put modern music out of business.
Unsplash absolutely threatens existing business models, but Unsplash and derivatives aren't going away. One must adapt. Furthermore, CC-BY-SA licensing of high-quality content may even threaten the likes of Getty in the long run. GNU/Linux/BSD clearly compete with once-dominant Microsoft.
The alternative is to force people to charge for something of value they wish to give, gratis, to the world.
One can always offer a service at any price; the trick is finding an agreeable buyer.
I would love to sell my photographs at a price that would allow me to do so full-time. Alas, there are a lot of other people who would love to do the same. Some of them are willing to charge less than presently seems sustainable for me to do. We adapt, or we're bummed out all the time.
often there is just no mechanism to facilitate the trade, or someone else is hoarding all the benefits.
Videos created with this music will end up in social media sites which will make tons of money out of them. Yet the creators have no way to earn a part of it.
I agree. This is no longer the 2000s, big tech should start paying people for providing content. It's too hard to make people pay for digital copies however (and it doesn;t make sens for ephemeral content) , so creators should start demanding pay for their free content that appears on social
/subscription / ad-supported sites.
There is too much duplication, some of those people are now free to create something of more value and those who have been held back from creating content are now are to make it more easily and with less friction.
I fear a society that is used to free stuff all the time.