On Thursday, Jan 29, 2004, at 16:30 America/New_York, derek holzer
wrote:
Hi all,
my two bytes:
mark wrote:
I am not sure that even if you where to package PD that you would
have an easy job making a living - you would be competing head on
with Cycling '74 and I am not convinced that the market space is that big.The consumer/commercial music software market is very crowded right
now, and PD would need a *lot* of work to play in that field. Espc
judging from amount of high-quality documentation in Max/MSP, and the
fact that they *still* get an insane amount of really stupid RTFM
questions on their list just due to the fact that people pay for it,
and they also think that they pay for somebody to do their reading for
them.
This is where I think the Redhat/Cygwin model could work. People who
want support can pay for a neatly packaged piece of software that has a
phone number that they can call and get someone to ask questions. As
the market for media art and the like grows, I think this will only
become more and more feasible.
.hc
My approach would be the services model (see Jboss as one of the
really sucessful companies using this model). Basically build
installations/projects etc. based around PD.I, like many many others, really feel like trying to commodifiy
digital information is like selling sand in the Sahara. Whether it is
digital music, software code, text articles or any other digital
product of one's intellectual labor, I think the money-making emphasis
should be on customization and personal appearence rather than
mass-market product. I was recently speaking with a rather well-known
experimental laptop artist who confided that all of his money comes
from concerts and lectures. Any CD sales merely fund the production of
the next release.Several PD coders I know, to take the customization angle, have solid
careers as "ghost programmers" for composers. The software already
exists, but the composer is more interested in the idea than the
technical realization, and these "ghosts" often make absolutely
sublime work under these circumstances. Similar scenerios can be
envisioned for theatre or dance groups as well as composers and more
"traditional" musicians.On the commercial project level, PD [+ Linux!] still makes sense over
Max/MSP/Jitter/Nato/AuVi or whatever because there are no restrictive
licenses to deal with, and the type of hardware it can run on is also
less restrictive. If I am commissioned by somebody to make an
audiovisual installation using PD/GEM/PDP, for example, the overhead
costs will be substantially lower in terms of hardware and software
than with "those other" apps. Basic business sense tells us that lower
overhead = higher profit... But this is a well-known fact about free
software, which can be applied to any field of computer technology, so
I won't harp on it too long here.As for the personal-appearence tip, I myself don't exactly make a
living off PD [yet], but I do get to travel, meet people and even pick
up some cash now and again from workshops, installations and
performances. The workshops angle is very interesting. Every time I
turn around, there is somebody wanting some instruction in PD. If it
is a group or an institution, they can usually find some money for
this purpose. I even get to perform more often by putting a gig in the
rider for my workshops ;-) If this were just another commercial
software, I simply wouldn't do this. I often tell people that Cycling
'74 should pay them for every Max/MSP or Jitter workshop they do,
because those folks are the front line of C74's marketing campaign!Lastly, and just as importantly, I also try to support other
developers in the community whenever I can by offering them chances to
do workshops as well. In this way, we can all support each other
rather than try to squeeze nickles and dimes from each other's hard
work.
Maybe this gets some heads turning? Best, Derek
--
derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl ---Oblique Strategy # 130: "Question the heroic"
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"Information wants to be free." -Stewart Brand