> People who are very talented can do a better job even at things other people are willing to do free
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that people doing things for free are not very talented. Linus Torvalds, for example, is very talented, and initially did Linux for free, and of course still releases his work under a free license, even if he gets paid well to do it. In those cases where you have very talented people doing things for free, getting paid for doing something similar for pay is going to be difficult.
I don't think the last word has been written on this, though... it's a fascinating phenomenon that is rapidly transforming industries like ours, and I have a feeling that it will take some time to reach the right equilibrium where producers get compensated adequately for their time, and people still get relatively open access to their work.
However, that doesn't necessarily mean that people doing things for free are not very talented. Linus Torvalds, for example, is very talented, and initially did Linux for free, and of course still releases his work under a free license, even if he gets paid well to do it. In those cases where you have very talented people doing things for free, getting paid for doing something similar for pay is going to be difficult.
I don't think the last word has been written on this, though... it's a fascinating phenomenon that is rapidly transforming industries like ours, and I have a feeling that it will take some time to reach the right equilibrium where producers get compensated adequately for their time, and people still get relatively open access to their work.