Repay Value

Plenty of the legacy industries think it's perfectly normal that consumers have to pay them over and over and over again for the same product, if it changes hands or for a new format version. They think that it's nothing short of money laundering if those products change hands and don't pay them another fee. Let's change the context to see how ridiculous that assertion is.

Video games publishers hate the idea that customers can sell or trade games they've completed or are simply bored with. They hate the idea that gamers can buy games pre-owned at much cheaper prices. One tactic is to make sure the game records it's saved state in unclearable form, so it can only be played through once. One tactic is to ensure it requires redemption of a code found on the back of the box to play, which is tied to one device. The idea is to make games worthless as a resellable item, so anyone wanting to play that game has no option but to buy it new at full price.

Music, movie and TV publishers want consumers to pay per play of their content. They don't want subscription services that allow people to play their content unlimited times for a set price. They want to charge extra per device, or cut that ability out altogether so you have to buy multiple subscriptions to be able to play the same content you already paid for in a different room. In an ideal world they'd want built in cameras on set top boxes that scans the number of people watching an episode so they could change the price accordingly.

What other product manufacturers have that mindset?

They want to portray themselves as a special case, that it's art / culture etc. It's not. When people buy a DVD movie, they buy a disc that's been factory mass produced, to play in a device that's also been factory mass produced. That's not to say they don't have value, it's just that they're not art.

So is the content itself art? Look at what is produced as "mainstream". It's all franchise content, it's sequels, prequels, reboots, spin offs etc all working to formulas targeting known existing fan bases. There are no unique angles, new stories, boundary pushing, cultural referencing etc. It's product, not art.

A TV series, movie or album costs a lot of money to create, but then so do most products in the R&D phase. After the R&D phase is over, the end result is a master that will be used as a template to create copies of in a mass produced factory setup. CDs, DVD's, BluRay etc are no different to this. The next step is the marketing strategy to get the new product to the attention of consumers.

So let's change the scene a little bit, and imagine this applied to mugs. Some people have tea or coffee in cups, some use mugs. Imagine you buy a set of 12 mugs. They are yours to use as you see fit right? Let's paint a picture. For easy reference we'll name the mug / cup maker as WeRMugs.

You have some guests round for the evening and of course tea and coffee is a regular part of the gathering. When you bought these mugs WeRMugs got their profit from your purchase. The first round of tea and coffee means 12 people. They are not the owners of the mugs, they don't have the rights to use them without specific licenses from WeRMugs. You could get a guest license, which means you have to charge 10p to each person per mug, so you can pay WeRMugs their dues. Do they have kids portions? What happens if a mug is dropped? The floor gets a coating of tea or coffee but what happens to the fee for WeRMugs? Is it charged at the filling stage? Or after the mug is empty? What happens if the mug is forgotten about and it goes cold? Do you get a refund on the per mug per person fee if it's not drunk? Is there as variation depending on the income bracket of whose drinking the beverage? Are you licensed to serve hot chocolate? Is there a fee for the number of sugars or rebate for no sugar? Is there a s condition that you must use milk from authorized partners only?

You decide that you want a change of style, with the mugs you have being a bit dated, so you donate the set to a local charity shop and buy a new set. Are the charity expected to pay WeRMugs for this donation? How much? Do they need to pay for a distribution license for selling the mugs to raise money for charity? Are they allowed to sell an incomplete set? Instead of paying upfront, can they add that fee onto the selling price? Is there a different fee depending on who buys the set and for what purpose? If it's a small business who want to use them in their office's staff room, is that a commercial license? Are you an authorized reseller to be able to pass these mugs out of your possession? Do you need to ask permission before donating these mugs to a charity shop? What about putting them up for sale on eBay? What happens if you got them as a present and never opened them as you didn't like the style? That'd make them new. What happens if you give them to your son / daughter / nephew / niece etc as they need stuff for their first home? Are you licensed for this activity? Are they licensed to do anything with them after they get them? Is there some location based tracking in the mugs? Only allowed to use them in authorized locations, or a maximum number of beverages per day? If you give them away or sell them without a license does that make them counterfeit?

How do WeRMugs stop this blatant money laundering if people use their products to serve beverages free of charge to guests, don't keep a detailed log of mug use, or pass the mugs onto others without paying the fee to possibly be resold for commercial use? How do WeRMugs tackle this blatant abuse in countries that won't respect their authority? They could plant small explosives in the base of the mugs so that if they go outside the range of the authorized location, the base drops out leaving them as tubes with handles.

All of this is just about the mugs you "bought". Imagine your entire life being run like this. Having friends round for an evening doesn't limit itself to cups of tea or coffee, it involves a lot of other activities as well. Ridiculous right? This is the world the mainstream music, movie, TV and game industries want to force on us. This is the world they paint as being "just" and "fair" for their own products. Anything that allows you to bypass continually paying them over and over and over for the same product they want to be deemed illegal, and nothing short of money laundering.

They want to "sell" a product, yet retain rights over what you can and can't do with it. If you don't have full freedom to use it as you wish, you don't own it. If there are some rights you don't get with the product, it's not a sale, it's a lease, or rental, where you are allowed to use the product but only under certain conditions.