People *want* to pay for art they *like*, but in the old days they *had* to pay for art they were merely curious enough to take a look at (And then the ones who actually were fans and really liked it paid more)
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
The latter model is objectively "worse for fans" because you have to pay more money, but that also makes it better for creators Once you hit a certain ceiling it is, I hate to say, a zero sum game
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
Like shit "selling merch" or whatever isn't new In the old days, if you liked the band you had to buy the album first just to hear the music, then you ALSO bought the merch Removing the first step is objectively taking money away from the band
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
Like yeah if you look at it from a purely consumer POV it "sucked" and you were always getting "ripped off", but you had no choice As you say, then, as now, people still paid for stuff and people still made a living It's just the greater burden was shifted onto the consumer
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
Like that's the sense you get, anecdotally, when you talk to fans about the '90s and before Being into music was a constant tax, on your paycheck Back in the day you had to spend so much more just to keep up with shit Buying all these albums you listened to once and hated
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
It was the expense of being a fan It sucked, especially if you were poor, although you could get around the financial barrier to entry with a little effort (It's that price discrimination thing again -- bootlegs and mixtapes existed but they took effort to get)
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
But, I mean, that money was keeping the industry alive All the bullshit albums you bought that weren't worth it and all the movies you went to see in theaters that weren't worth it and so on, that was people's paychecks
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
Because the number of people who've heard of something is always so much higher than the people who really like it, at every level -- it's not people paying for music they *like* that keeps art afloat It's people paying for music they *don't like*
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
That's what people openly say "God, can you believe back in the day we used to just go to some random shitty movie in theaters to have something to do Now I only go to see movies twice a year, and it's the big Marvel movies that I feel like you *have* to see"
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
I hate to put in these blunt and cynical terms but it's true Supporting music means supporting the bands you don't like It means an ecosystem where 100% of the people who just randomly check a band out subsidize their career for the 2% who become true fans
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If ONLY the true fans ever pay you anything -- 98% listen once, go "meh" and forget about you, 2% go "FUCK YEAH" and tip whatever they can afford -- you may have a more authentic and enthusiastic fandom but you end up poorer A *lot* poorer
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Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
Now, yes, this was unsustainable most likely Consumers fucking hated it, they ended up actually winning a class-action suit over it Nobody liked paying the "regret purchase tax" to be "involved in fandom" But like most taxes, once it's gone the budget falls apart
2 replies 2 retweets 7 likes -
Replying to @arthur_affect @phyphor and
The best, most realistic proposal I think exists for how to deal with this is to have an actual, literal tax Public funding for the arts, like the NEA and your local government's artistic grants But this *also* very unpopular -- more unpopular than old CD prices were
4 replies 2 retweets 15 likes - Show replies
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