Recently I wrote in Why DRM in HTML5 and what to do about it:
Long term, the only way the DRM threat is going to be put to rest is for free cultural works to become culturally relevant.
I’ve complained many a time that rearguard clicktivism against bad policy is not a winning strategy — especially when such campaigns don’t also promote free-as-in-freedom software and cultural works — because as I put it one of those times:
In a world in which most software and culture are free as in freedom there would be no constituency for attacking the Internet (apart from dictatorships and militarized law enforcement of supposed democracies)
But I’m at fault too for not laying out a specific plan for making some free works culturally relevant, let alone carrying out such a plan.
OK, here’s one plan I recently mentioned offhandedly:
- crowdfund minimum number of subscriptions needed to begin
- subscriptions used to really nicely package/stream and promote free as in freedom video
- start with 1 feature-length video selection each month (perhaps even quarter during a beta phase)
- mix of contemporary (of which there isn’t much yet) and older public domain movies
- limited, promoted releases concentrate subscription audience: focused increase of cultural relevance, one work at a time
- given enough subscriptions, start funding new free videos
- obviously videos would be DRM-free, in free formats, all software used free software, and all ancillary material also free-as-in-freedom
Good idea? Run with it, or if you’d like to subscribe or otherwise help create it in any way, fill out this 3 question survey. Bad idea, but still care? Let me know via the survey. Or mail ml@gondwanaland.com or contact user mlinksva on some other usual channel.
…
“Kill Hollyweb” is in part a reference to the Y Combinator Request For Startups 9: Kill Hollywood. The plan above isn’t really a Kill Hollywood plan as it isn’t about replacing movies with some other form of entertainment.
Some discussion at http://www.reddit.com/r/freeculture/comments/1dmhdk/a_kill_hollyweb_plan_freeasinfreedom_netflix/
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