Unglue.it is not even in beta yet, but it is raising a lot of eyebrows: Can you use a pledge campaign to raise money to induce a copyright owner to put their publication into the public domain? The owner gives up future royalties in exchange for a one-time payment, raised from a crowd of interested people in small amounts. (Compare Kickstarter.com) It’s an intriguing thought, and I will be very interested to see if it flies. Here’s a brief video in which Unglue.it founder Eric Hellman is interviewed by my friend David Weinberger.
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It seems to me that this is a way for big monies to buy out desperates authors. An opportunistic approach to the current low esteem climate.
Hmm. What “big monies” are you referring to? This is about a crowd-sourcing effort. Let’s say a book came out 5 years ago, and its sales have slowed to a trickle. I’ve read it, and would like other people to have access to it; I think it has an important message. But I know most people will no longer pay some kind of list price for it. So I start a project on Unglue.it, and kick it off by contributing $10. Unglue.it finds out from the copyright owner how much they would like to receive in order to put the book in the public domain. They settle on an amount, and if that amount is reached, the author gets what she asked for, the book is in the public domain, and everyone can now read it for free.
If the amount is not reached, nothing at all happens.
I don’t see why you see this as opportunistic or exploitative. And “low esteem”? That’s not a climate; it’s a personal choice. One I would discourage…
What does it mean public domain in a war zone?
Hi, Alejandro! Not sure what you mean; could you clarify?
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This…
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I am very big on the open-sharing of ideas, and I’m also big on people being rewarded for their ideas.
Unglue.it sounds great, thanks for the heads up on this Joel
Yeah, I think I’m there, too, Jason. Let’s see what the market does with it…
Interesting idea. I’d be curious to see how it develops. Thanks for the interview.
I think it has potential. Only the market will tell…