- Information wants to be free? So does food. But farmers aren't as stupid as certain publishers, journalists and ad salesmen.
That is such a great quote.
Personally, I see this turmoil coming to rest in time. When compared against current forms of distribution and copying, the old model of compensation for writing doesn't work. However, if writers get the lion share of the profit, and distributors the small fraction that writers used to get, costs for information can fall to a level that can compete with piracy. Piracy does have costs and inconveniences, and when you distribute information in a way that pays the creator, you can afford build user-friendly platforms that provide value in categorization, search, archiving, recommendation, etc.
The crux of the matter appears to be a complete undervaluation of the cost and effort of production of informational products, given that "reproduction" costs of information is "negligible ". History has a funny way of surprising folks. It may turn out that serious producers of mind products will seek wealthy patrons (like in the old days) and the rest of us prols will never get to see or hear their creative works.
An interesting counter example would be the enormous success of Shostakovich in the United States compared to similar 20th century composers. His works have not carried copyright protections in the US until very recently, making them significantly cheaper to perform. He would have likely remained relatively unknown outside of Russia if his works weren't freely available to American orchestras.
Go in Salaam and happy St. Patrick's Day.