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Selling Digital Art in Bulk through Prepaid URLs

By John S James

Summary: Suppose a major donor anywhere in the world could sponsor tens of thousands (or any number) of copies of a song, video, or any other digital "content" -- letting tens of thousands of people in social networks just click to download free, with no registration ever, instantly paying the artists or a cause by the act of free downloading itself. And each sponsor can deliver a message to the thousands of anonymous end users who download from his or her contribution. We show how independent artists could market globally at no expense if people care about their work -- offering an alternative to corporate monoculture. Or artists could donate their digital original to an organization that will use it this way to raise funds.

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Here is a way to allow anyone to buy as much or as little prepaid access as they want, to online music, videos, or other art or information -- and share their access free through social networks of their choice, or publicly with anyone interested. End users will just click to download free -- instantly paying the artists by the act of free downloading itself. Most users will not need to spend any money, have any account, register, sign up, log in, or learn special instructions, ever -- yet their free downloading will automatically transfer funds among other parties. And anyone who liked a song or other art, the artists, or the cause raising money with the song, could pay whatever they wanted to sponsor the work, to their own social networks or to public groups of their choice.

Combining ecommerce with elements of a gift economy, instead of demanding that everyone pays, allows arbitrarily low prices per download (or streaming, Web visit, or other access) online. A song might be priced at 50 cents, five cents, or even less than a penny -- whatever works best in the situation. (The price could also be high.)

Donations Charge Up "Smart URLs" with Prepaid Copies for Free Downloads

For example, a donor might contribute $50 to buy 500 downloads of a song or other art, priced at 25 cents each if sold individually but discounted to 10 cents each in large quantities. The donor will receive a new, unique URL (Web address) that knows it has 500 copies of the uploaded file to distribute. This short, simple URL (usually about half a line of text, with the donor allowed to make up part of the name -- see [1] for a likely format) can then give up to 500 people free, authorized download or other access to art or information that would otherwise cost them money.

The donor can email the charged-up URL to friends likely to be interested in the art or the cause -- and let them know that they can share it with their friends, post it on blogs, etc. Blogs are likely to welcome such comments if relevant, since they will encourage traffic by giving visitors free access to art or other online content that would otherwise cost money, with no need to watch an ad. Web sites could specialize in free access to a particular genre -- including art that is usually free to the end user, but does insist on being paid for by somebody, somewhere in the world, in order to support the artist.

When empty, the URL will require payment before releasing more free downloads. But anyone who ever receives a copy of that URL can pay it for additional downloads -- clicking to select a payment page instead of a free download (whether or not the URL was empty at the time). This new payment will instantly recharge all copies of that URL throughout the world (trivially, since all the copies are identical and all reach the same server). Therefore multiple copies of the URL could circulate through social networks indefinitely, being recharged as needed, for as long as people are interested in the art it sells or the cause it benefits.

Meanwhile, other donors can buy new URLs that sell the same art for the same cause -- and start multiple copies of them circulating in other social networks as well. These swarms of copies of different but closely related URLs will continue to pay the artist or the cause as they travel -- until most people have lost interest in that art, or have already downloaded a copy if they want one. Successful fundraising campaigns might continue to raise money for the cause, years after organized efforts had ended; funds could keep showing up in a PayPal account, or be sent periodically by check. (These URLs are actually smart financial accounts, which can decide on their own to mail paper checks or otherwise make payments, deciding when, to whom, and for how much, with no human attention required -- according to instructions the account owner created, approved, or accepted in advance.) Alternatively, the organizers could end the campaign, by making all its URLs totally free and unable to accept any more money.

If you happen to hear a song or find other art you like (or like the cause it is supporting), you will be able to call or click to pay a trusted party for any number of prepaid free downloads. Then you can either give them to a suggested group, or request your own URL to share your prepaid copies with anybody. Either way you can include a message with your gift if you wish (see below). This large-scale, meaningful way to donate is unlike any today.

Donors can be in rich countries or anywhere; artists, organizations, and free end users can be in poor countries or anywhere. And language can be no barrier, as explained below. Thanks to social networking, there is no upper limit to the number of downloads or other accesses that each donor can purchase and meaningfully use. For example, a donor could buy 10,000 prepaid free downloads without needing to know 10,000 people to give them to. That wouldn't work easily with 10,000 copies of a CD -- nor with a high-priced digital original. The proposed URLs will enable artists to donate digital work for mass distribution.

And donors can send recognition, personal, political, religious, advertising, or other messages with their free (prepaid) donations, if allowed (see below).

We designed this system to help independent artists get paid for their work, and/or to donate work to benefit a cause.

Notes:

• "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need." This funding system creates meaningful ways for those who have money to give it, and for anyone to contribute by networking. It encourages sharing among an entire community of interest: rich, poor, and middle-class alike.
• Donors can provide short recognition, personal, political, spiritual, or advertising messages with their donation (if allowed by that fundraising campaign), including text, non-intrusive graphics, or URLs. And they can have bidding wars with other donors to get their message out first; such bidding wars can greatly increase revenue to the cause. Like Google ads, these messages need not be intrusive, because they will be targeted -- through social networks around common interests, instead of through search, giving a different constellation of advantages and limitations. For example, social-network targeting may encourage more personal messages.
• Donors will know exactly what their contribution buys, and see it take effect immediately around the world, as it causes all copies of the URL to offer free access that might not have been free seconds before. And if the donor is the first to donate, or the first to include a message, or voluntarily pays a higher per-copy price for the message than any other currently active donation, then the donor's own message will immediately start going out, whenever a copy of the URL is clicked anywhere in the world. Donors can also put out a null (silent) message, blocking all other messages for as long as they can afford to outbid them -- blocking an opponent while raising still more money for the cause. There are strategies for playing both sides of this -- always involving giving more money to the fundraising campaign.
• Donors will have synergistic incentives. They can give free access to a social network, give money to support the artists or the cause, know exactly what their money buys (500 downloads of a particular song, for example) while avoiding micromanagement, and also target their own messages through social networks -- all in one action. In addition, donors will know that almost all of their payment will go to the artist or the cause (an audited figure could be available); see below on why prices for the service of using these URLs can be low. And donors can compete with each other to get their messages out.
• The artists, donors, and end users can do business even if they all speak different human languages and have none in common, because simple business processing such as paying by credit card, or requesting free samples, can be provided in the user's choice of language, at essentially no expense. Other operations and ideas can also be provided internationally (maybe starting with universal concepts like God, love/solidarity, family, money, war, peace ... -- plus simple picture language, and of course numerals). Each procedure, concept, or whatever that requires text will be entered once at the server in each supported language, and then be available for all fundraisers, donors, artists, and free end users alike. If the "smart URL," when clicked, reaches a page that is written only with these internationally available elements, then donors, free end users, or others could change the language by clicking on a picture of a flag, or a language name. They will receive a new URL set to that language, and can share that URL with their friends, as it will stay in the new language until a particular copy is changed again. So art created in the U.S. could find a cult following in China, or vice versa, even if no one involved knew the language of the other country, or knew any person there. Arbitrary texts will not be translated, but any available translations of such texts, for some or all of the languages, could be plugged in. And donors could write their own personal messages using the international elements if they wished, to have their messages automatically appear in any supported language.
• The fundraising cause or organization should get close to 100% of all money donated, because computer-processing costs will be trivial, and the computer services will be generic not proprietary. Also, trusted servers can impose accountability and other requirements on the campaigns they support. Anyone can see by glancing at an actual URL (not a fraudulent display on a phishing page) what server manages it.
• In most cases total start-up costs to market worldwide this way will be zero -- provided that enough people care enough to share the URL with their friends, avoiding the need for paid advertising. The computer and business services can be funded by collecting a small percentage of sales (donations) as they occur.
• We expect that about 98% to 99% of all participants in this system will be free end users who never pay any money -- called "freeloaders" elsewhere. Here they are highly welcomed co-equals with donors for achieving fundraising success, mainly through social networking, which will usually reach some people who can pay. The particular fundraising campaign, art or other content, and social networks involved, will help define a community of interest that may otherwise cut across the world. The people who don't contribute money will far outnumber those who do, and therefore will do most of the work of creating and maintaining this community, giving the financial donations a social meaning they would not otherwise have had. (We came up with the 98% to 99% from the observation that usually only 1% or 2% of visitors at most will help finance a Web site if asked. Instead of blaming almost all one's users for not contributing, why not integrate them into the process? After all, it is usually easier to get a single $50 contribution from someone who can afford it, than 50 separate contributions of $1 each -- especially online.)
• The vast majority of participants will not need to learn any new software or instructions. They already know how to click, how to email, and often how to blog.
• Usually no encryption or other such security will be required (except for standard ecommerce, when donors pay by bank card, etc.). Even URLs with hundreds of dollars in them can be emailed insecurely and shared openly, since third parties can never get money out of them, only dozens or thousands of identical copies of the download.
• DRM (copy protection) should usually be unnecessary, since if donors can be found, "pirate" copies must compete against legitimate free copies that do pay the artists or the cause, which most users will choose. (And if donors cannot be found, then that art could probably not raise much money in any case, so the maximum loss through piracy will be small.) This system will not block DRM if an owner does want to use it.
• Many (probably most) financial transactions in these systems will be fully automatic, with no human awareness or effort and therefore no "mental transaction cost" at all -- allowing people to create new business models based swarms of tiny, automatic transactions. Some models already exist (for example, nonprofit fundraising from a percentage of product sales), but these accounts will allow small organizations or individuals to easily try new ideas, some of which will catch on.
• (Difficult but powerful): The swarms of copies of different URLs will become active and reproduce when they reach the fertile soil of enthusiastic people who like the art, or the cause it funds. These swarms will behave almost like living species in finding niche environments -- seeking out constituencies of people who support the art or the cause, who might not have been found, or learned about each other, in any other way. Trends that could not survive in the general public mindspace could develop in these special groups, creating more alternatives to corporate monoculture and contributing to the depth of the society.
• Once a suitable Web site offers this service, setting up the infrastructure for selling digital art worldwide (for fundraising or otherwise) will be a straightforward process like starting a blog. With the technology out of the way, organizers can focus where they should, on mobilizing people.

Current Status

We do not know of any such site, but have published a design for creating one -- rights-free, for anyone to use. It will be easier than expected to write the software -- and more importantly, easy to introduce this concept into popular use (see Technical Notes, below). We encourage open discussion, experimentation, development, and use of these ideas.

For more information (currently in successive writeups, not yet systematically organized), see our Web site on this project, http://www.smart-accounts.org

Technical Notes

• Each "smart URL" will correspond to a record in a database at the server. This record could have many fields and allow complex behavior. For example, the URL could keep track of hundreds of separate donations made by different people through copies of that URL, and manage each donation separately. And the same URL could have hundreds of other, similarly complex capabilities (most of them turned off at any one time).
• Despite this complexity, tedious account setup will be no problem, since the financial accounts represented by these URLs can reproduce. Each URL (account) will be born with the look and feel, settings, and other parameters inherited from its parent, and indirectly from generations of ancestor accounts tinkered with by many people. For more information on this larger picture, see "Financial Accounts That Can Reproduce, Inherit, and Evolve," http://www.aidsnews.org/2007/07/fundr-reproduce.html
• The best way to write the software for distributing prepaid URLs will be to implement financial accounts that can reproduce and inherit, noted above. Account reproduction is technically simple, as it consists largely of copying a record in a database, plus cleanup. Also, totally new features can be added gracefully at the server, even after the accounts are "live" in public use (provided each new feature has a proper "off" condition); therefore this software can be tested early and written incrementally. And these accounts will have many non-financial uses too, so developers can test their systems in public use, without taking on responsibility for other peoples' money.
• Most importantly for public introduction of new software, selling content in URLs can work perfectly even for its first user, with no network-effect barrier (no need to somehow get a critical mass of users before the system becomes useful to anyone). Less importantly, there is no need to wait for technical standards before starting public use -- different servers can be compatible with each other despite major technical differences, provided that the organizations that run them can trust each other financially.

Footnote

1. The URLs might be in the form
http://art.server.com/any-name-you-want
where 'server.com' is a Web site that manages this fundraising service, 'art' is a fundraising project's account on that server to sell particular art or other content in a particular campaign, and 'any-name-you-want' is a name that a donor can choose or make up, as long as it is not already in use on that 'server' to sell that 'art'. 'Any-name-you-want' can usually be chosen to be easy to remember and use. But for other purposes (not discussed in this series of articles), it could instead be chosen to be hard to guess.

For more information on this design, see http://www.smart-accounts.org

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