Fame vs Fortune: Micropayments and Free Content
Clay Shirkey,
Sept 08, 2003
In this article sure to make the rounds, Clay Shirkey has two major points to make. First, he argues that a micropayment system for online content will never work because of "mental transaction costs," the hestitation caused by considering whether it's worth half a cent to read an article. And second, he argues that while "fame and fortune" traditionally went together, in today's publishing environment artists increasingly face a choice between the two, as free publishing offers fame without the fortune. The latter point is probably correct, but the former is not. If mental transaction costs are a barrier, then a successful micropayment system will transcend that barrier by creating a system that automates such minor transactions. This, of course, requires trust in the mechanism. But who trusts vendor-controlled payment systems? Not me.
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