Keep Turning Left has gone pay per view. What was once a free jolly on YouTube is now a dedicated site with a PayPal button.
So what do I make of that? Well the initial reaction is the standard "it's on the internet so surely its free."
But as someone who earns his living selling software that is a slightly weak argument. In reality I think content that has value and took effort to create should be able to make a return. And that means doing what we are all reluctant to do, namely pay.
And there's no doubt that the Keep Turning Left series from Dylan Winters is of a very high standard (though a bit too many panning shots of Walton that don't feel comfortable). So I went over there and with a couple of clicks was able to see the latest instalment.
Quite a lot about seals there was too:
Dylan even gets up at what he calls "horrid o'clock" to do a bit of seal watching. Slightly worryingly he waxes eloquently about the beauties of the female seals - has he been out there too long one wonders?
But the seals are rather wonderful. In the murky mud they use their whiskers to sense minute changes in water flow that might indicate the presence of a tasty fish.
So will I pay up 99c next time? Probably - and as a general rule I don't think we should be scared of paying for user generated content.
Quite the opposite, as there are an awful lot of talented people out there with something to say. And we should be able to reward the good ones with the one feedback that shows really mean it.
Nothing says "good job" as much as a click on a PayPal button.
3 comments:
Shock! Horror! What is next?
Will O Docker start charging 49c for watching his popcorn intermission video?
Will Adam ask for donations to PayPal for reading his next post by a guest blogger?
Will David ask his 11-year-old mermaid groupies to send him 99c every time they want to add to their 1000 comments on his legless woman post?
Will Tillerman charge a fee for writing a puff post making your yacht club famous on The Google?
The possibilities are endless...
Interesting debate, when I started the Bursledon Blog a year ago I decided that it would be completely non commercial, no advertising - just my meandering prose about the local boating scene.
That said Dylan puts in huge amounts of time and effort filming and editing, by contrast I take a camera along with me, doing the things I enjoy and write things up on the train on my way back from work in London.
And as a PS to that thanks to blogger for making this possible and free!
There may be more than a few newspaper publishers watching what happens to Dylan's numbers now.
One of the hottest topics in publishing today is whether to start charging for content that has been mostly free until now. Most publishers are scared to death to be first. Having to back out after a failed trial would be a PR nightmare and would probably hurt the numbers even further.
JP, is it true that Buff will be starting up a free bootleg Keep Turning Left download site?
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