Schafer: Traditional Publisher Cross-Collateralization Hurts Individual Creators
Tim Schafer · a16z Podcast | Tech Trends Changing Gaming · Jan 2, 2019 · at 25:32
Tim Schafer, game designer and founder of Double Fine Productions, compares traditional publisher and record label portfolio risk management with direct creator economics.
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“If you're in a studio and you have a bunch of, say you have a bunch of bands, your music studio, You know not all of them are going to be the Rolling Stones, and the Rolling Stones are going to pay for all the other bands, but you cross-prolateralize so that, you know, they all kind of pay for each other, which is great for you, because you've taken the risk, because you don't know which band's going to be a hit, and you've taken that risk and spread it out, and overall, you know, you're going to make money, because you have a, you know, a hundred bands signed, but if you're one of those individual bands, you know you're not going to make anything, and you're not going to keep any of your money, because you're paying, even if you make a little bit of money, you're going to be paying for all the other bands, and You see these stories of occasionally a huge band getting rich, and so that kind of keeps the whole system going, because, like, somebody's getting rich, like, it might have always, like a Vegas thing. Could be me. When I pull that lever, it might be me.”
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