Thanks to OSTATIC for writing about VODO (and note to people wanting to cover VODO: write to us! We might have new news.) Ashwin N. (whom we assume is Bittorrent’s Ashwin Navin) writes:

While they are trying to address the problem, I really don’t see them being successful at this. Let us face it. Not too many people donate. Look at the Causes application on Facebook. A large number of users. Very little raised by way of donations…

There are a number of interesting points raised in Ashwin’s little comment, many of which we’ve thought through and talked about:

(1) What would we count as a ’success’ for VODO? For example, would it be enough if we created a robust, scalable system that was cheap to run and could provide for more people to get more donations more of the time? And conversely,

(2) What counts a failure? Do we fail if we do not revolutionise the music and film industries in some set period of time? Do we fail if we are not used by some percentage of filesharers?

(3) “Let us face it. Not too many people donate.” Of course we have faced it, since we’ve been honest about the amount of donations to STEAL THIS FILM and about the fact that these are insufficient to make another film. However, history teaches us that technolgy changes behaviour rapidly. Before Napster, people didn’t download so much. One could image a music exec saying, as Ashwin now does, ‘Let’s face it. People don’t download.’ Only a year later he would not only be proved wrong, he’d be facing a complete change in his industry. So it’s not enough to talk about what people do or don’t do right now. We have to think about what outcomes are desirable, and try to sculpt systems that can help them to occur. In later stages of VODO, we hope to directly address the question “what makes people donate”, try to make it fun — and more than fun, beneficial — to donate. We’re really open to anyone who has ideas about how to get people to voluntarily (as opposed to co-ercively) support culture.

(3) “A large number of donations. Very little raised…” We’re trying to research stats on this at the moment… How much would “very little” have to be before we beat what goes to artists through “old” or “traditional” distribution. There is a figure of $.50 going to a musician, for example, from each sale of a mechanically reproduced album. So does that mean that if 1 in 10 people donate $5.00, we will be doing just as well as the traditional industry? Or is there some underlying problem we’re not seeing?

(4) “Problem”, “Addressing”. What is the “problem” of filesharing? If we phrase it as a problem, aren’t we missing something? Shouldn’t it rather be called, properly, an “opportunity”?

We love the fact that people are thinking with us about VODO and we say hi to Ashwin and wish him well. The news from the development team is that it’s all good, although we’ve been a bit annoyed by PayPal’s inconsistent nomenclatures.