Solution to a problem that'll probably evaporate in a few years: website like Patreon, but for published authors/producers.
Visitors pledge a monthly amount (with ability to limit to N months) to any published creator.
Website repeatedly purchases a published item from that producer whenever sufficient funds accumulate, and provides public proof of the purchase to maintain trust.
If physical media was purchased, website operator donates it to a library/charity of their choice.
I learned in industry that there are problems that we can solve and sell those solutions to people who desperately need them, but not for enough money (or not cheaply enough) to justify us actually doing it.
Not just little websites but this often comes up at Real Work too.
I usually numb the pain this causes by moving on to the next problem for which we can actually charge enough to make it worth our while.
Maybe this is why fields need passionate devotees who work for (next to) nothing.
@22 i'd even say, maybe that's why we need an universal basic income and to stop quantifying people's value based on subjective work done or money earned
@CobaltVelvet I thought of another reason why UBI wouldn't necessarily make exactly this problem go away—ok it might pay for labor, but if your solution needs hardware that is expensive compared to what you can sell the solution for, then the solution still won't get made and the problem remains unsolved. Can't seem to get around the iron law of credits minus expenses…
@22 that's a good point and gets especially obvious with healthcare, which even with a UBI usually needs to be universal in its own way to be fair