The world has changed:

Attention has become worth more than protection.

Unfortunately, companies like Disney and trade groups like Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America have yet to realize this with websites like RespectCopyrights.org, interviews like ‘DRM’ Protects Downloads, But Does It Stifle Innovation?, and crackdowns like Music, Movie Industries Target Theft On Internal Campus Networks. But they eventually will. It’s starting already.

As almost anyone reading this blog already knows, the Internet has made possible products and services that could never have existed before.  The Internet invalidates many prior business models replacing them with different and often potentially more lucrative business models, eBay being a great example; just think of all the businesses eBay has negatively impacted while at the same time all the other businesses is has empowered. Alternately, the Internet has turned some hugely profitable businesses into much more competitive and hence less profitable businesses such as term life insurance.

But with the growth of blogs and tools that make it easier and easier for practically anyone to create a significant web presence, there is more content then ever. Protecting new content is now the foolish thing to do. Instead creators should be empowering their content to gain as much attention as possible. For example, photos that have a Creative Commons license[1] empower others to give the creative work an audience that it might otherwise never get thereby raising the status of the creator. Those who leave their photographs on Flickr with the default “Copyright” (or anywhere else using a non-explicit Copyright) are guaranteeing that no one will happen across their photos and choose to use them in an unexpected beneficial context.

This also creates a decline in the value of lawyers and an increase in the value of (good) marketers. Overbearing parents, take note.

Clearly there are caveats to this. Those who have already established their reputation for the quality of their work would probably do better economically if they protect their works with copyright. After all, Annie Leibovitz would almost certainly not choose to allow unlimited free use and derivatives of her work.

But the writing is on the wall. Those who pursue protection over attention are the world’s next dinosaurs.  Embrace attention and prosper.

Footnotes

1. I ideally recommend an “Attribution” or an “Attribution-ShareAlike” License, but even an “Attribution-NonCommercial” or an “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License” is in most cases better for the creator than a typical “fully broad” Copyright these days.

creativecommons

The past two days I attended Carson Workshop’s "The Future of Web Apps" presented at The Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and I must say it was one of the best conferences I’ve been to in years!  Every one of the speakers was excellent each providing invaluable insight, and the energy level was just electric! 

I really liked the venure too; an ~800 seat auditorium where the entire single-track conference was held. It had so much better feel than getting stuffed into lots of little breakout rooms at a hotel or a convention center.

Not everything was perfect, i.e. not enough networking opportunities, flaky WiFi, and no exhibit hall, but at $295¹ for two days the event was otherwise so incredible that I feel really bad² even mentioning any negatives! OTOH, Ryan Carson was made fully aware of those problems by people other than me and I get the sense that next time it will be corrected.

Lastly, Ryan announced plans to publish online the audio ala T.E.D. for each presentation which the presenter the agrees, which Ryan definitely encouraged! That’s a very "Creative Commons" approach, and oh so right for a Web 2.0 conference (or any other future conference, for that matter.)

Maybe I had such a good time because I was burned out on 12+ years of Microsoft-oriented conferences and just needed something new.

Whatever the case; Bravo Carson, you definitely made a fan!  If you get a chance to attend one of there future conferences on a subject of interest to you, don’t hesitate, don’t think about it; just do it! I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

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