Jon Ippolito’s excellent essay “Why Art Should Be Free” covers the theme, “Making art into property helps plenty of folks — even a few artists. The problem is, it cripples artists more than it helps them, by covertly impeding their power to create, to get paid, even to give.”
Here are the section headings to give you a taste:
CREATING
GETTING PAID
GIVING
THE OPEN LICENSE
THE BENEFITS OF GIVING
WEAKNESSES OF THE LICENSE APPROACH
THE DIGITAL SANCTUARY
Ippolito is right — his “Digital Sanctuary” solution is “as practical as it is radical.” I had to think about it for a while — but I think I like it.
Note: The link above is to page 1 of 3. The “continued” links didn’t work in my browser; here are direct links to each page:
why art should be free 1/3 — the costs of property
why art should be free 2/3 — the digital sanctuary
why art should be free 3/3 — notes