On or about 12:57 PM -0400 8/17/00, Arnold G. Reinhold wrote:
I think a voluntary payment system is a fine idea, but I am not sure
that your proposal address the right issues. If I understand what
you are proposing correctly, your scheme allows a CD buyer to verify
that a particular payment server is authorized by the recording
artist to collect payments in their behalf. It does this by
attaching server an artist URLs and sigs to the downloadable content.
Correct so far, except for the "CD buyer" part; this is for people
who download their music from the net, even via peer-to-peer
mechanisms like Napster.
First, why bother attaching all that info to the content? One can
simply set up the servers and let them present signed credentials
from the artists.
The reason for attaching the info to the file makes is that it makes
it a no-brainer to pay for a song. Just right-click on the file in
the Windows Explorer/Finder and choose "Tip Artist". Or alternately,
my MP3 player software might support it directly so that I can pay
based on who I'm actually listening to most.
One of my primary goals is to make this as easy as possible for the
consumer to send a tip, since the system only works if people are
willing to do it on a regular basis.
Content is certainly one way to publicize the servers, but their are
many other ways. Why depend on the content uploaders to do this?
It would be the content encoders. Once the payment info is attached
to the file, it will be there no matter how many times it gets
swapped around. Given a voluntary model, there's no motivation for
anyone to strip it.
People ripping their own MP3s from CDs is, I think, a temporary
phenomenon which will go away as soon as everyone realizes what an
inefficient way of moving bits they are.
It won't be long before music will come straight from the artist in a
compressed, net-friendly form. If it's the artists creating the
file, then they'd might as well stamp their contact info on it before
releasing it to the world.
Second, it would seem you require the artist's cooperation. Some may
not want to cooperate. Maybe that's OK: they don't get paid. But
others --perhaps most-- could be barred from cooperating by their
record companies. Their contracts may allow the record companies to
control all uses of their name and may even give them access to the
voluntary payments (if the contracts don't, they soon will.). The
record companies may even sue the servers claiming they are
interfering with the record companies contractual agreement with the
artists.
I address exactly this issue here:
http://tipster.weblogs.com/discuss/msgReader$31
A better approach might be to set up one or more servers that
collects money as a way of voting for people's favorite artist. The
funds collected would be placed in one of several audited escrow
accounts: in the artist's name, if they give permission, in an
account dedicated to a charity that the artist designates, or, if
neither is available, one of several music-related charities
(pension funds, libraries, museums, etc.) that the donor can select.
A small portion, say 5-10%, would go to pay for the server expenses.
Tipster should support this, since it is payment-method agnostic.
One of the payment methods could be an escrow account, etc.
The recording industry can be expected to try to shut down any
voluntary payment system, so careful legal design is more of an
issue IMHO than cryptographic protocols. A reputable bank as escrow
holder and CPA firm should provide enough trust.
The recording industry has no reason to shut down a voluntary payment
system, since their music won't be a part of it until they decide
they're missing out on revenues. See the url referenced above
Also, note that there are elements of the Tipster design that are
intended to keep the Artist in control of their revenue stream by
facilitating multiple, redundant streams.
See http://tipster.weblogs.com/discuss/msgReader$12
Thanks for the reply,
-Jeff
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