The Street Performer Protocol
We introduce the Street Performer Protocol, an electronic-commerce mechanism to facilitate the private financing of public works. Using this protocol, people would place donations in escrow, to be released to an author in the event that the promised work be put in the public domain. This protocol has the potential to fund alternative or “marginal” works.
“The Internet will free us!” was the call of Napster users every where…And, truly, the Internet offers the first real opportunity to break the monopoly that major labels hold in music, and the major publishers hold in the world of text.
Traditionally, the “majors” controlled access to financing, production and distribution. These days, you can dupe a CD for less than a dime. Set up costs are almost nil, so you don’t have to produce in large numbers.
Advantage one taken from the “majors.”
But the still have a lock on financing creative projects. If the data economy is ever to break the stranglehold, we will need a mechanism that provides a financial incentive for the creative team to produce works of merit. Thus, The Street Performer Protocol.