Faded, Jaded Mandarin ([info]nvonflue) wrote,
@ 2007-01-06 22:51:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:fyi, general, it came from the web!, music, self depreciation, webcomics

More Turpentine, and ding-dong micros are dead?

(Originally published at hypercomics.net. You can comment here or there.)

So it’s one thing when a few friends decide to cover a song from your “band” (I put it in quotes because, as we are fond of saying, we’re really drunks with a music problem), but when a dude you don’t know from Adam covers it, it really seems like this goofy thing might have legs. Check out Yopparai Kyabetsu’s awesome version (complete with homemade PVC trombone) and all the others at the Turpentine Project page!

Did I mention yet that Bitpass decided to close my account? It was because they have discontinued support for all low-volume merchants (A category I’m sure I fell squarely in. I’ve made no bones about the fact that I’ve totalled about 45 bucks off my bitpass comic.) I see that they have canceled a few other merchant comics, but we are all still strangely linked on thier comics merchant page. I was under the impression that anyone could still sign up for Bitpass and sell whatever they want. This is not the case it seems. I get the feeling that their comics section is pretty dead all together. I wonder when that changed? Well, it seems we can stick a fork in Micropayments for comics for now. I’d be interested in hearing perspective from some of the higher volume Bitpass merchants and if they’ve had any word from Bitpass.</p>

If anyone hasn’t seen them yet you can read my very esoteric and formally constrained Bitpass series for free from this post. I’ll get around to cutting out the pay buttons on the bitpass enabled version sometime soon.


(Post a new comment)


[info]fabricari
2007-01-07 05:21 pm UTC (link)
OK, look, you know I've been all anti-micropayments for comics n shit, but I have to throw in a second here.

I'm sure you've been payin' attention to the whole Project Wonderful thing. Right? Guess what. Micropayments bee-yotch! You know what makes it work? EVERYCOMICGEEKANDHISMOM are in on this shit. Seriously. Give it a try. Go throw a few buck into the coffer via PAYPAL and then start bidding on some cheap ads. There are dozens of em available anywhere between 0 and 5 CENTS!

OK, I know this isn't paying for the comic itself, like we've talked about. But the model is there. That same model can be applied to comics. I'm just sayin' - micropayments isn't dead. It's still evolving.

Oh and Yopparai's cover - gen-YOU-wine! Swear to God it sounds like he's been down this road a couple a times. I love the accompanying melody of the PVC-ma-thing.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]nvonflue
2007-01-07 05:44 pm UTC (link)
I'll take you to task on that one, Project Wonderful is micropayment applied to advertising. Very small payments indeed, but Ads are still the primary driver. They just stitched the two models together (brilliant as that is). Not the same as being directly paid for the art you make, which was the Bitpass model. Project Wonderful can't be applied conclusively to making money on your comics in specific.

Or, can it? Would people ever "bid" on your comic? Say a total amount of "reader slots" are available and users have the abliity to be high bidder to access the work? Ehn. Doubt it.

And who cares anyways, you and I are on our way out of webcomics anyway!!LOL

Oh and seriously, Yoppari rocked that song. You oughta friend him over at Banjo Hangout!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]seian
2007-01-07 05:25 pm UTC (link)
Geeze, and the only reason I ended up getting a bitpass was due to a few comics I wanted to read. Guess they think they're not making a profit on the management of small guys?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]nvonflue
2007-01-07 05:46 pm UTC (link)
I think they've gone away from comics entirely, or it seems as such. They have much bigger sellers in their other arenas. Can't say I blame them, but it's kinda like a good restaurant in your neighborhood closing down.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…