Commons
Abandoning Strategies of Artificial Scarcity: Is it Possible to Create Revenues from the Commons?
Michel Bauwens
There are two models which are problematic for creators. One is the copyright-driven model which puts creators at war with their most ardent fans and supporters by suppressing the sharing of culture, and the other is the model based on free labor, with rent-seeking by the new forms of netarchical capital. Is there a third way? In our opinion and based on the observation of peer production communities, we have much to learn from the emerging glocal and global peer production communities and the generative strategies of »phyles,« that is, ethical economic coalitions which create added value and livelihoods for commons producers, as pioneered by communities such as Enspiral, Sensorica, and others. The avenue of mutual solidarity mechanisms, with labor mutuals such as SMart and Coopaname, and community-supported art collectives (AMACCA) are also worth exploring, as is the new model of platform cooperativism.