I'm not sure what you mean Taylor ... my point was:
of the $6, where does it go?
My point was, the physical production cost of the CD, i.e. the piece of
plastic and the jewel case, is a very small amount. (20 cents or
something.)
The other $5.80 is in fact entirely "creative peoples fees". IE, the sound
engineer of course commands thousands per day, as do the macorbiotic
caterers, and everyone else up and down the chain.
I'm not sure whether you were agreeing or disagreeing with me ... ?
> No-one (essentially) [in middle America] (other than us arcane Original
>>Internetters) is interested at looking at me or Greg's Little Interesting
>>Web Page .. folx want to see "real" web pages with "huge" amounts of
>>information produced by Lots Of Staff spending Lots Of Money.
>
>I'm sorry but that is just wrong.
I hope you are right, Taylor!!
>It's also what professional web sites
>like my employer would like everyone to think.
>
>Bianca's smut shack (http://www.bianca.com/) is run by two guys in our
>office (one just left to devote full time to it). It was baically a
>socialogy/computer-science master's poject that just kept going. It uses
>up 60% of our bandwidth everyday.
>
Do these have any real staying power? Do, or will, cnet and hotwired and
discoveryonline dominate in the end ? I dont know .. Im wondering ...
I find it hard to believe that, just based on the way the world seems to
work, that milllions in marketing and scores of staff at CNET or MTVNET or
CBSSPORTSNET or whatever, wont ultimately dominate ......
Its like politics! Sure, in theory, all votes are equal .. but will the
libertarians be voted in ? <: No ! <;
>Now, can this happen in any other media? Can a copy editor at Random House
>stay late and self publish a best seller and distribute it in every Barnes
>and Noble and Super Crown in the country? Could two cinematographers get
>together after getting fed up with how hollywood is doing it and make a
>movie that outsells the studio and is played in every Cineplex in the
>country? Could an MTV intern launch a hip cable network in her spare time,
>get it carried by satilites and local cable stations?
>
Hang on a minute ... you know these guys you mention ...
>Bianca's smut shack (http://www.bianca.com/) is run by two guys in our
>office
Unless Im mistaken, they stole/used/were given the facilities from the
HotWired organization. Or, HotWired patronized them.
I assume HotWired has a certain cost per month to run their facilities ...
badnwidth ... amortized cost of Indys or whatever server hardware you use
.. office space cost to house it ... insurance .. the cost of the
technical team that runs everything ... etc etc. This is hotwirde's $MC
... their monthly cost in dollars.
The Two Guys you mention have either
(a) paid HotWired the appropriate 60% of $MC, or
(b) some patron has paid HotWired the appropriate 60%, or
(c) HotWired has donated the appropriate 60% as a patronage-of-the-arts effort.
Sure, someone here in my office could launch a web site. There would be
precisley and exactly one reason she could do that. Money! Money, money,
money. In this case, my investor's money which is paying our $MC, which is
probably $5k a month or something.
If for some reason that money stopped flowing (AHHHRGG!!), Sally-ann's web
site would cease to exist. Money.
Taylor, consider your position! You work at simply the most prestigious
web server in the land. You are saying "oh sure, any two guys I know here
can kick off a web site anytime". That makes sense!
>Hardly! These are the production costs that become nil with the network.
Well, our accountant just had to buy another server, another router and
more badnwidth. It didn't feel like "nil" to George, you know ?!
Ah! But here's the rub ..... your answer to my question ... ->
>>And again the huge costs of running such a 'real' web site make it a game
>>only for the big corporations, and the artists they choose to 'patronize'
>>in that sense.
>
>Horsepucky! I could work in coffeshop by day and publish on my thirty
>dollar a month ISP account by night. I'd have just a good a chance of
>attracting hits as a full time web shop.
>
Perhaps you are right.
i donut know if I agree ... do you really think, say, the bianca guys could
truly have done it with a $30 account.
I do not know.
>>When you buy the latest Tom Clancy thriller for $5, or pay your $7.50 for
>>the latest Arnie movie, almost none of that money (essentially 'none') is
>>going into the physical cost of production of a paperback or CD or what
>>have you.
>
>Again, the main factor is the distribution model, the web flattens that.
>
True, distribution-retail is 50 % of everything.
I just do not see "the internet" (millions of very expensive routers, each
with expensive router technicians, and millions of miles of very expensive
fiber cable) ... as any "cheaper" for society to sustain (if you look at
it tht way) than ... say "the movie distribution industry", which is
millions of buildings each with a half-dozen employees.
You know ?
I fear its a myth.
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jp may tweb limited
tel 801 272-TWEB fax 801 272-1881
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