I'm wondering, "Why aren't we doing this ourselves?"
I think the main reason is because we would have to fundamentally change the nature of what we create to do that. Licensing agreements would no doubt limit what we could create (just as Amazon has)-no sex, no adult content, no crossovers, nothing "questionable" that would change the brand the content holders are selling.
I... don't know how much we'd have to change. Granted, much of our content couldn't be licensed because it doesn't suit universe creators, but that's the same with Amazon. And much of our content *could* be acceptable to license holders, especially when they're making commissions off of it without actually, you know, doing anything. At all.
I guess all I'm thinking is that I'd much rather see fans supported by profits that Amazon might make, than see Amazon supported by profits fans might have otherwise made. If AO3 became fully funded, so that there is never a worry that it will go under due to cost of bandwidth, that by itself would be wonderful. And yeah, I'm dreaming, but still. Why not dream, in my spare time?
incidentally, Jim C Hines has some thoughts on this, although I can't find the link right now. fanficrants is having a discussion on this, too. my take on this is that: amazon.com is offering to 'buy' your carefully controlled-to-content fanfic, and once sold, won't let you have any other compensation for it, not from people buying an e-copy to read it, nor from the original TPTB if they decide to use a storyline, original character, or the whole damned fic in future works. yeah, i wouldn't sell to amazon for this on a bet.
they're trying to make money off of fanfic, while deciding what people write. sounds amazingly like some of the prior money-making schemes various franchises have tried.
One thought on the provision you sum up as: I'm not exactly sure how the author can hold copyright while also being told that the universe creator can use anything s/he wants to use.
While on one hand this lets a show-creator mine the Amazon-distributed fanfic for ideas and characters, I'd guess it's more of an end-run around the old bugaboo of a writer outside the show claiming their story idea has been hijacked by the show, when something with similar story elements appears. This has been a legal concern since at least the 70s, in that show-producers carefully would not read, and would return unopened, unsolicited spec scripts, let alone fanfic of any kind. It wasn't the porn (well, it usually wasn't), it was the copyright liability. Whether this is more than a legal chimera has never been clear to me, but show creators have taken it seriously in the past, and similar thinking seems still to hold at Amazon.
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I think the main reason is because we would have to fundamentally change the nature of what we create to do that. Licensing agreements would no doubt limit what we could create (just as Amazon has)-no sex, no adult content, no crossovers, nothing "questionable" that would change the brand the content holders are selling.
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I guess all I'm thinking is that I'd much rather see fans supported by profits that Amazon might make, than see Amazon supported by profits fans might have otherwise made. If AO3 became fully funded, so that there is never a worry that it will go under due to cost of bandwidth, that by itself would be wonderful. And yeah, I'm dreaming, but still. Why not dream, in my spare time?
Reply
they're trying to make money off of fanfic, while deciding what people write. sounds amazingly like some of the prior money-making schemes various franchises have tried.
just my 2 cents.
-bs
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While on one hand this lets a show-creator mine the Amazon-distributed fanfic for ideas and characters, I'd guess it's more of an end-run around the old bugaboo of a writer outside the show claiming their story idea has been hijacked by the show, when something with similar story elements appears. This has been a legal concern since at least the 70s, in that show-producers carefully would not read, and would return unopened, unsolicited spec scripts, let alone fanfic of any kind. It wasn't the porn (well, it usually wasn't), it was the copyright liability. Whether this is more than a legal chimera has never been clear to me, but show creators have taken it seriously in the past, and similar thinking seems still to hold at Amazon.
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