Feb. 26, 2010 -- I was just able to get back online and see how many of you had rushed to my aid. More than $1,500 came in through Paypal alone and I am deeply touched. Thanks to my new friend and colleague, Paul Mineau, I am just loading software into a new computer. Thank you all so much. For most of you these donations are just a way of sustaining a worthy and useful service.
Those who have followed me for a while understand that for several years now, both I and Jenna have been giving away for free a lot of what we used to get paid for at FTW. (I can hear Jenna yelling, "What do you mean we?") It has required a lot of uncompensated effort, almost all from Jenna. I am in the process of forming a new company, Collapsenetwork, Inc. (Collapsenet) -- It's ironic that the only way to function in this dying paradigm is to become a corporation. But Collapsenet will be a closely-held C-Corp and I will always control more than 50% of the shares. Collapsenet's shares will never be traded publicly. We will accept a very limited number of investors when I get the OK to do that. We have a cracker jack CFO who cracks a mean whip too, and she will take care of our money as a paradigm dies, and as great uncertainty begins on the way into a new and undefined one. You'll meet her and others when we hopefully show you something in three weeks or sooner. We're going to try and change the way money works a little in the process. This is evolution.
Collapsenet will be vastly more efficient than all the work done on this page, two now very active Facebook pages, and from my personal email. It will also feature something new: me coming to you in live video with analysis, and commentary as events continue to unfold. That's right, you're going to be seeing a lot of me on a regular basis. (I'll brush my teeth.) I want to get Jenna up live too to tell us what's happening in New York and to offer her own eloquence and wisdom. (This is the first she's heard of it BTW.) I'm sure you'll see many faces you've come to know and love and you'll meet some cool people too.
This blog and all its archives will become a part of Collapsenet behind a subscriber-only wall that will eventually include many things. Collapsnet's ambition is to become a national and global clearinghouse for information on how collapse is unfolding, imminent dangers, emerging solutions, social networking, and eventually resource referrals to training and suppliers. Those services that we recommend will eventually be ranked by Collapsenet on various scales. We'll start simple to get it up and we'll add these other services as fast as we can. There are some kick-ass minds behind this... Hold your questions please. We're designing this lifeboat as we build it and it's very exciting.
But right now there's only one question on everybody's mind... WTF is going on?! -- That's where we start. I remember a great scene from Mel Gibson's "We Were Soldiers". In the middle of a battle, with all hell breaking loose, the battalion commander just stands up straight, unarmed, and starts walking around looking, almost oblivious to a furious 360 firefight. That's Collapsenet's primary mission, to understand and decipher the field. About half of the predictions I made in the movie "Collapse" have already come true. And I think we all know that we have it figured better than anyone out there... anyone who's talking anyway. The world is watching us and now we have to lead.
Pirated versions of "Collapse" have been downloaded more than a million times now all over the world... a million times. That explains why I'm still broke and have no income even as Collapse is having a global impact. Had I and the rest of the crew been paid for those views I would be forming Collapsenet from pocket change. I just love the pirates who email me and say, "Hey man, you're a great hero. I just downloaded (stole) your movie and it changed my life!" -- Gee thanks. -- But I have been paid with a new and vigorous worldwide network of friends, some of them very accomplished people in key locations. I intend to put that network to good use in Collapsenet. We can save lives together. So there is a payback for all of us... even me.
More importantly, Collapsnet will be set up to adapt rapidly to changing circumstances. It will be scalable. It will also feature the equivalent of iReports from people all over the world. I am now receiving a torrent of information that Collapsenet will be able to sort, analyze and track; and there will be significant investment in analytics. Tapping into and using this energy and knowledge may save millions of lives. We can all see that.
Collapsenet will be a fee-based service. I'm guessing $10 a month or $100 a year. That's because we're going to have several full time staffers and a very sophisticated Internet setup to receive and upload critical information with live video and audio feeds. Please don't hammer poor Jenna with questions. She's reading this as you are and she sure ain't no geek. But I can make this promise... in public. For your years of unbelievably dedicated and selfless service, Jenna you are going to get paid. I need you. We all need you. We all love you.
I can pretty much guarantee that a few long time blog loyalists will get free lifetime subscriptions.
We have so little time now. And I can't adequately say how grateful I am to have you guys. Just keep watching the blog for announcements. We're putting this together fast and it will not be perfect at first. There is no time to waste. The most important thing is to get me uplinked so that we can all start to process information faster and more effectively. You mapmakers are going to be needed and Collapsenet is going to give you some juice and maybe help you with your own lifeboats.
I'm going to go listen to the New White Trash song "Avalanche and Earthquake" now for inspiration... and I just ordered a pizza. I'm taking the night off. Thank you.
MCR
**************************************************************
Well, so we had our much-awaited "snow hurricane" today. (The difference between that and a run-of-the-mill blizzard remains elusive.) For a while, 't was all a-blur with white dust amidst actual flakes. But on the whole, no big whoop as some tv character or other used to say. Shops open, everyone stepping over awkward mounds and sloshing through twelve-foot-wide puddles. The days when the street ploughs used to clear it all up within hours to the tune of $1 million an inch have receded to a blip on the radar screen of history.
But school kids got the day off as did.....wait for it.... Chase Manhattan. In their infinite mystery and majesty, the banks that I either tried to get in or breezed by on the bus were Not At Home.
Funny day to go fishing.
JO
For the record, I paid to watch Collapse in the theater (and saw your live Q&A afterwords).
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that a million people saw your film - whether bootlegged or legit. The message needs to be heard. That's a million people who are potential Collapsenet subscribers. Let the filmmakers recoup their investment; being in the spotlight is something to be capitalized on in a number of ways.
"The world is watching us and now we have to lead."
ReplyDeleteNice.
Welcome back Mike, and yeah, Jenna you kick ass too.
@ MCR: Good one re Collapsenet. Plan your work, work your plan. It's a good way to go. A corporate vehicle itself is not criminal. It is a medium.
ReplyDeleteHa, well I'm jobless at the moment so any sort of monthly-fee-based subscription service is a little out of the question.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'll have to resort to newsdigging myself again.
Anyway, best of luck to you all.
I can never thank you and Jenna enough Mike; this is great news, I look forward to being able to subscribe.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to MCR's initiative, it will be a doozy I'm sure. The model sounds superb, it will go a long way toward heading off a couple of weaknesses of FTW: I think it lacked familiarity with technological details (eg paying way too much for convoluted web security software when a properly configured Linux server might have sufficed), and not taking greater advantage of the knowledge and know-how of legions of subscribers (understandably given the constant efforts to infiltrate and destroy Mike)
ReplyDeleteWith these issues addressed MCR's efforts will be leveraged astronomically through the subscriber base.
Also in the news
China insider sees revolution brewing
Looking forward to Collapsenet.
ReplyDeleteGreat News, seems like a good price point also. Although i think many of us are coming to the point where we are making our own maps for our specific communities now, I think having a global site where we can exchange ideas will be brilliant. Hopefully a forum for subscribers will be on the to do list I look forward to seeing what the new site will look like.
ReplyDeleteAll the best.
MCR,
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas, but I'm going to have to pick you up on your assumption that all of those 1m downloaders would have paid to see the movie.
Forgive the rant, but this is the truth.
How much marketing money was spent on Collapse? Not a whole lot I'd imagine, so there are not a whole lot of people that would have either
a) know what it was about, or
b) known when/where it was showing.
Having the movie appear in a BitTorrent index is the best publicity you could ever get, and it didn't cost you a cent.
For any movie to make money you normally take the gross receipts minus the marketing and then pay the prinicpals (studio, distributor, actors, etc.). Since Hollywood accounting means no movie ever makes money, they are all losers. That is why all the actors now take a cut of GROSS revenue, because otherwise no one would ever get paid for their appearances.
When film distributors and record labels finally realise that they are nothing more than marketing agents, we might see some sanity come from copyright laws, but until that time, welcome to the digital age. Get used to it.
What is the point of that? Well, just consider BitTorrent et al as your marketing budget. For all those that watched it from a non-paying source, you can bet your ass that they ended up at this blog as a result. Your job now is to use that momentum and turn it to your advantage, and that is where Collapsenet will hopefully take you.
Good luck with it, and good luck with the impending disaster that is the global economy. Just remember to make sure that whatever the result, you have a place to hunker down. I hear NZ is looking good...
Michael, It's absolutely wonderful seeing you all pumped up with ambitious ideas & designs. At the same time, tho, we can't help but feel a bit queasy about your evident taste of preference for follow-the-leader over the mechanics of genuine democracy. Just something to think about ol' buddy. We love you. RanD
ReplyDeleteMike and Jenna;
ReplyDeletethank-you for your work over the years. I purchased 4 copies of "Crossing the Rubicon" but am now unemployed so I will not be able to subscribe. You all should read "Road to Armegeddon" by Paul Craig Roberts.
I'm in a similar boat as FeatherofHuginn because my disability pension is maxed out and I would not be able to afford the monthly subs.
ReplyDeleteAll the best to you and Jenna and with your new venture mate - Love your work :)
Ralph
South Australia
Hi!
ReplyDeleteI'm one of the million people who stole your movie! I don't worry that you know that; as I exist outside "the paradigm". That's just the way things work out here.
That being said, I do have one comment relating to the quote: "for the love of money is the root of all evil".
Let's talk about LOVE for a minute. What does "love" have to do with money? Obviously, we don't kiss our money goodnight before going to bed (well, maybe some people do)! We don't take money for long walks in the park! We don't take pictures of it and put them in our scrap books!
So, how does one "Love Money"? Well... We can do so by putting all of our faith in it to provide us with the things we need. We can believe that possessing more of it will make life better. We can declare money to be "the one thing in this world we can't live without"! And aren't these the very things we hear so many teenagers professing to one another as the signs of their "love"?
"For the love of Money is the root of all evil"
Do you realize that we are the only animals on this earth who believe we need money to survive? The only creature who thinks a shiny metal somehow has value, just because it's difficult to find? These are all illusions of "the paradigm", as you call it. Gold has no real value, other than as a non-corrosive plating. Paper has no real value, unless you find yourself sitting on the can, and someone forgot to replace the roll!
"For the love of Money is the root of all evil"
Apparently, it's clear to you that money is at the heart of all the suffering in this world. You obviously understand that the people who place the most value on money can't afford to give high priority to averting the damage they do, or the suffering they cause! But have you stopped to think about the fact that you and I are their market? Has it ever occurred to you that these evil businesspeople do what they do out of only the best of intentions? That, just like you and me, they see themselves as making a better world for their children?
You realize that it's all destined to fail. You want to save lives. That's very noble! But how is it that you are able to believe that a human life is so much more valuable than any other? All things are connected! And in hoarding everything unto ourselves, we have effectively killed our host! And we don't seem to care much about that! "Save the planet" is all well and good; but God forbid it should come at the expense of jobs! And, I don't see a whole lot of people defending the rights of cows and chickens with the same zeal that most would afford even a death-row inmate!
You quoted the Christian Saint Timothy. Now, allow me to quote Christ:
"You Cannot Serve God And Money!"
I submit to you, and to anyone who would listen; that until we are able to "love this earth" more that we "love our money", we will have no God-given right to live on it... and that's a scientific fact!
Don't feel bad Mike, I am about to release 50 hours of permaculture video for free. My artist, Geoff Lawton is the number one permaculture desing course in the world. There is information in my design course even the Bullock brothers are not teaching. Well, I assume :) Do they know about bio char?
ReplyDeleteI have it all secured, streaming. Could not rip the video. But, I too feel the need to make a lifeboat, so I am going to use Ecosutra to build entertainment networking for shows and events.
I have a plan to create successful entertainment companies.
Do you realize the DVD industry is facing the full impact the music business has been living with for a while now? EMI is finally bankrupt. Do you know how big that is? They own all the foreign publishing rights to most American music.(classics)
If you want someone to buy a package from you, dont release one hit records, but instead produce a DVD/CD Album with Art, diaries, interactive web media, with social networking subscription services. This is the future of entertainment.
Does that sound like an eco village to you? Makes me think of times past before steam engines. Entertainment was local. But now we have the internet. Mike, check out Numetra. My friends, they are leading the way. Ecosutra, may be the first CDN with the new technology. I am waiting and waiting.
Could you imagine Universal Music Group actually social networking artists? The BMI tower in Nashville is stuffed with lawyers. These buildings should be a collaboration tool. Entertainment in the 60's. The Brill building and 1650 Broadway, where my father Bert Berns took this neighboring high rise and crushed the Brill building with soul. Signed Van Morrison and Neil Diamond to his label, Bang records. All they had was Nat King Cole and my Dad brought them hits for the Drifters, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding? Atlantic Records, my father brought them even Jimmy Page. At 16 years old Jimmy was staying in my fathers apartment starting a band called Them.
Back in the 60's these artists were running with writers up and down those buildings throwing music at each other?
This is a great example of how the ropes of life that we need to reconnect are lost.
Will Collpasenet become a new record label?
MIKE; Count me in. My email address is: janetsuepetersen@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteMCR...This sounds like an exciting project, but $10.00 a month seems way to low for the quality of information you'll be providing. I'm sure at $20.00 a month you'll do much better, as I'm sure a high percentage of the people who will pay you $10.00 a month will pay you $19.95 a month. And it's time to stop letting people bleed you for your information because they just feel they're entitled to it, and feel that you should be obligated to give them this information for free.
ReplyDeleteWith this in mind and with what you said have been approximately 1,000,000 unauthorized downloads of your movie "Collapse" online, maybe it's time to begin offering an authorized version of the movie on video-on-demand online for a fee.
Hear, hear!
ReplyDeleteI have been reading your blog for more than 6 months now. Rarely a day goes by that i dont check out your slice of daily news regarding peak oil, the economy, (geo)politics and intelligence news. Most of the vital information you and Jenna bring, doesn't make it to the media in Holland, where i live, which claims to be an international orientated country.. Which seems to being torn apart as we speak.
I can understand that illegal downloading can be a pain in the @ss but it's a part of the current speed-up in what's happening in our world. A million downloads were counted: that probably means that at least a threefold have come in contact with it and y(our)message. It will grow and grow and grow.. May the force be with you.
To MCR and all,
ReplyDeleteI am delighted to hear this news. As a former FTW subscriber I can say that the value(as applied)of the information I received for my money from FTW was far in excess of the monetary amount paid-by orders of magnitude.
I have no doubt that the excellence of FTW will be carried forward in Collapsenet.
I will be subscribing as soon as it becomes available.
Further, I am happy to know that MCR and JO are going to be paid actual money for their hard work which we all benefit from!
Let's GO!!!
Great Stuff Mike!
ReplyDeleteThere's a Tsunami threat for the Pacific
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/02/27/tsunami-threat-for-hawaii/#more-16790
The Tsunami Warning Center has a very detailed list of estimated arrival times for waves generated by Saturday’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake at many locations along the west coast of the United States. On the US West coast, the first waves to arrive will be in San Diego just after noon PST.
don't forget the little people who donated during the venezuelan trip :P
ReplyDeleteseriously good idea and look forward to seeing it. i'm less than employed also.
toner which part of oakland are you in?
Mike, start the subscription now. I'll sign up knowing that content will follow. Please consider sliding scale for subscription. that we more folk can participate. that's the new model for more egalitarian participation. I'll gladly pay a little extra to help out. good luck with collapsenet!
ReplyDeleteWill there be an invitation to first-generation insiders...prior to a more public "IPO" and possible stock splits down the road? Will the offerings be in blocks or single share purchases?
ReplyDeletei'm in for the subscription, and Ralph, as a fellow aussie, I can spot you for the first year.
ReplyDeleteA million downloads (which I seriously doubt) should not be equalled to a million lost sales. That is the BSA/RIAA/MPAA party line.
ReplyDeleteYou should should be glad that people, that anyone, has taken the time to inform themselves of the information contained within the movie no matter the method.
If you want to avoid some of this this, then offer a direct download option upon release - or perhaps you should consider not charging for every little titbit of information...
Count me in for $300.00. That will help pay for my viewing of "Collapse" at a bootlegged sight. I would have paid but had no way to watch. ITUNES Movies would be a great option.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to hear about the energy in your new project Michael. If your looking for a great author to help, look at the site ( neithercorp.us/npress ) Giordano is just a wonderful and clear author.
Maybe you can have an option for those of us still working to help those less fortunate still have access to your great site. Take care from your old stomping grounds, John Redding CA
I thought this website had its heart and mind in the right place, but obviously not. I understand it takes time to find news stories, to point people in the direction of those news stories, but to consider it a true service and claim that one should be paid for it is like Noah asking for all species of animal to pay to ride the Ark. You aren't Noah, and you aren't building an Ark by charging. The service you claim to provide isn't as life saving as the skills of permaculture or natural medicine, and yet you don't see the Permaculture institute withholding news stories that are important to the community. You make people follow the news with a supposed insight that could be put to better use - by not following the news. Good luck with your efforts in having people pay, but I think they are better off spending it else where.
ReplyDeleteMCR,
ReplyDeleteI've been a long time follower of your maps and I'm glad to read about your new direction. I hope when the time comes, I can afford it.
I have one suggestion in regards to video updates. I saw Collapse in the theater and the use of music bothered me. I fault the director. I thought the music played over your message was not necessary and actually took away from it. I would suggest video updates sans music. The message is dire enough with out the added drama.
Very few information-based web sites have profitably operated with a subscription based business model. Maybe "this time it's different", but I am doubtful
ReplyDeleteMCR SAID
ReplyDeleteECOSUTRA -- You're right on. Keep that permaculture video handy because we may want to promote it at Collapsenet. Everything we recommend will be screened and approved. And we'll try to figure a way to get you income from it. I'm not ready to look at that kind of content yet.
But, as a matter of principle, it is wrong, it is not sustainable, and it is unnatural, for very talented people to work hard to produce anything in a culture that doesn't believe they should be paid for it. Yes, outside the matrix is a different world altogether and we adapt or die. But the rampant anarchists need to incorporate a plan to sustain valuable people.
BUSINESSMAN -- It's been on video on demand for two months in 40 million homes. Where ya been!? Last I heard it had maybe 15,000 paid views. (Which haven't covered costs.) But it's been about a month since I've heard anything. And let me repeat: I have no influence in how Bluemark decides to market the film. I don't own it. I would have marketed it differently and DVDs would have been out a month ago. Now they won't be out till June and the continuing and growing buzz will only encourage people to download it pirate style so that by June there may not be that much demand for the DVD. There will certainly be a lot less. I'm moving on outside the fucking matrix. I don't expect to ever see a penny from it... Now maybe I'll get a pleasant surprise someday. Since 1982 I've been pumped by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, (e.g. Pakula, Bregman, and many more). I can truthfully say that the only real honorable major dude I've ever met in Hollywood is Mel Gibson. And he and I aren't doing business together. I'm not saying Bluemark's dishonest at all. They've been straight and they keep me informed. But if I ever get a real paycheck from any movie I'm in I'll have seen a miracle. I remember being told I might have some income last October. It's always nobody's fault. Move on.
RanD -- Don't hold your breath. Collapsenet will be all about efficiency and the speed with which life-saving information can be identified, assembled, analyzed and shared. You want democracy, go to a free speech forum or call Amy Goodman. She has a show called Democracy Too Late. Collapsenet is about survival and I'm not allowing people who dont grasp the issues (I do not mean you RanD) to have equal weight with people who've given their lives to studying and understanding the problem; and looking for real solutions. Take it or leave it, my friend. There's no time to look back. I'll miss ya because you had some decent spiritual insight sometimes and a real good heart. Overall you've been a real asset here. This is a war for survival now. When I see someone who's got it figured better than I do I'll happily follow them. Until then I'm acting like a leader because that's what I am. I intend to form an army of mapmakers, and I will lead it. You can come or not but you'll always be a friend and I'll be the better for having met you.
MCR
MCR
ReplyDeleteWe do watch Democracy Now when Amy has a report that we can gain information from; just as we follow your blogspot when you, Jenna or commenter's have information we can gain from. We gain information from many sources. EVERYONE contributes to our knowledge base.
EVERYONE that is currently living in this paradigm also needs an income to sustain physical life or that life will die; only the Spirit never dies. In order to accomplish the task at hand we need to keep our physical bodies alive for the Universal Common Good.
We have no problem with you making a living right along with Everyone else, but information given freely is always good (the rewards are great). We donate to Democracy Now, just as we subscribed to FTW, and have a subscription to C to C AM. You ARE "very talented", "very gifted", "very deserving", but then so is everyone that exists, each in their own way. The best way to charge for your information (in our opinion) would be through suitably articulating to your consituency an empathically oriented donation system, as folks could then give what they could afford; just as folks have stepped up to the plate for your monetary survival in the past, they will do so now.
Our website is given freely and provides an option to purchase a book if folks would like to; we live very modestly (way under poverty line), but have been provided by The True Power with enough to support a free informational website; when that website information is no longer needed, then and only then will we not be able to afford it. If your information is meant to continue then you will be provided the means, just as you already have been...or you would be dead. All of this 'provision' comes with our individual effort also, but not unless it is meant to be.
There are no Leaders or Followers, only all of us working in Unison for the Universal Common Good; which by the way, is currently happening with great speed as we speak.
Sincerely Your Friends, Ruthie and David
(Btw, R authored this one [her first to FTW! Ta-Da!], which D only had to very minimally edit!)
Consider this:
ReplyDeleteIf a million people downloaded the video that leaves another 300,000,000+ that have not seen it.
Produce a CD.
I prebought tickets and drove 120 miles to see one of only two screenings in the entire state of Texas. Collapse was not available to me at any time on pay-per-view (I live in the country and don't have cable tv.)
I know the owners of this film hoped to be more well-received at theaters after getting good reviews. But they made poor business choices once it became evident that this vehicle was not going to work for them.
I would gladly have paid to watch over the Internet and I would have bought CDs to give to others had they been available even after I had seen the film.
I know this is not your fault, Mike.
On the other hand, you still have time. Lots of people have not seen this film. Well made books and documentaries have long life spans.
Produce a CD and sell it through your site.
Post the movie at youtube so people can watch it for free. This will not reduce CD sales, it will increase them.
99.9% of the people in this country have never heard of you or your film.
A lot of us don't like watching films on a computer screen.
And please make provisions for poor people to sign up to your site for free if they're unable to pay. While I currently am not counted among them, I certainly think they deserve to hear what you have to say as much or more than someone with a wad of cash in his pocket.
MCR...Having the movie available on video-on-demand in the home isn't the same as having it available on video-on-demand on the Internet. You're talking about the old school TV generation vs. the iPod/Facebook generation in terms of these two arenas. But I understand that your hands are tied with how the film is right now being distributed.
ReplyDeleteI've got DirecTV and they haven't been carrying Collapse on video-on-demand. If they had I probably would have paid to see it again two or more times after I originally saw it in the theater. And I would have paid to see it on video-on-demand on the Internet if it had been available there, too.
re:unrepentant cowboy's suggestion - a quality audio book (of what is said in Collapse) is a fine idea - very easy to produce and to sell per download over the internet using a cheap service like e-junkie.com - with the added bonus that their servers allow rapid reliable download. I think regular readers across the world would be very happy with this.
ReplyDeleteThink about all the people who are seeing Collapse though. It isn't a good thing to have your work stolen, but I can't help but think Yay! So many people are seeing it now. Sorry, but I want as many people to see this movie as possible, and it makes me mad that so few no about it!
ReplyDeleteI for one am stuck somewhere, not sure where. There is a part of me that wishes I would've never seen the movie and the other part that is thankful I did.
I feel like I'm going crazy here. I study, I read, and then when I try to tell people about what I've learned they look at me like I'm crazy. And I get it, I really do, I mean this stuff is just really hard to sallow.
Every since Collapse came into my life, I've been soaking up as much material as possible. My head hasn't stopped spinning. It seems like I bounce back and forth between unbelief and utter horror. I tried to find as many bad things about MCR as possible just so I didn't have to face the truth and could tell myself "oh, he's just another quack". I didn't work. No matter how many times I try to turn away, my head is whipped back. Man, it's like a bad dream that I can't wake up from! I'll stop the rant I guess and go back to reading and learning as much as possible....
I think collapsenet is an awesome idea. I hope people can afford it though.
Ruthie & D:
ReplyDeleteThe only way to go, thank you. Also, the way "to change the way how money works" - or rather: how humans work it:).
MCR,
ReplyDeleteLove your stuff, man. I would be glad to pay that $100 a year to get you in front of the camera more. And I never would have been turned onto your stuff without it being on Google Video. It was my gateway into peak oil, which is ironic considering I used to work for an energy NGO. Anyway, keep up the good work!
God, if only i knew how to download a bootlegged movie!!
ReplyDeleteIt would probably be the only way any of us here in Australia will get to see the movie.
But then we cannot play American movies here anyway. All most confusing.
Any Aussies out there who can sort this one?
I've tried Gil Scrine in Queensland, a distributor of odd ball movies etc., but no go for 'Collapse'.
I would of course send you the money Mike for the movie if it came via the freebie set up.
Good news that you are ramping up the information network, also that it will have a variety of avenues for survival information. We have been preparing for the past twenty five years for just these times but I imagine there will be tens of thousands of others running around like headless chooks wondering where to start.
Hey Mike!
ReplyDeleteCount me in as a paying customer. But it would be a shame if those with less cash, or those not yet convinced of the importance, were to be left out. I think you used to send brand-new work out to only subscribers, on FTW, but would make old stuff available to all.
Might be a good idea with the videos. After four or six weeks, they could become youtubes, which would leave a trail up to the newer stuff, netting you more paying customers and also getting the exoteric group up to speed, so they're ready to dive into your contemporary stuff. Also, it might be appropriate to let your paying customers e-mail your stuff to individuals NOT FOR PUBLICATION - I think it's called limited copyright or something. That way, some of the people who have followed this blog, but who can't afford membership, could stay onboard.
Hello All,
ReplyDeleteLong time reader and first time commenter( I think). Sure it's a worthless piece of information but I have always wanted to use that line.
Anyway, I just wanted to second what Unrepentant said. Now I really have no clue towards what laws govern the internet showing of movies, but I think a tip from Del The Funky Homosapien might help.
Del releases his albums free from his website and includes a place for donations. If a user donates a certain amount then they get stuff. like a $20 donation gets them a copy of the CD, $50 donation gets them a limited addition pack with the CD and booklet.
I think Del makes his ends but I wouldn't know with any certainty. But the same type of thing also worked for Radiohead. Maybe it could work for your problem with the movie.
I also wanted to point out Project Wonderful. If you have not heard of it, Project Wonderful is a company who offer internet advertising in a different way than many of the popular Google or Yahoo endorsed vehicles. They are more like E-bay and make the whole process rather transparent.
Having said that, I have only earned 14 cents in my first two months, but it's more than I ever made with Googlesense. And I only get about 100 hits a day. Might be worth it for you guys to check out.
I really hope I am not boring anyone, but the last site I wanted to mention is Scribophile, a site for writers, where members critique and post their work. Membership is free but there is also a pro membership you can get for the same kind of money you mentioned.
I mention them here because it is one of the first sites that I considered paying for a membership. It might be worth checking out for ideas.
Anyway hope some of this helps.
I bootlegged the film because you don't have it here in Australia, moreover I have looked into buying the DVD and there are only Bootleg copies on eBay available.
ReplyDeleteI'm more than willing to buy it. Maybe combine it with a shirt (using one of the press stills).
I have been waiting as patiently as I can for Collapse to come to Milwaukee where it's director is actually from. I have tried to find a legitimate way to see this movie. It's not available legitimately! Why NOT?
ReplyDeleteI will finally see it in 11 days!
But I am sympathetic to those who downloaded it. What else can they do if it doesn't come by them?
I have waited patiently for Collapse to come to Milwaukee and finally it will be here on March 12th but
ReplyDeleteI am sympathetic to those who could find no way to see it and gave up and downloaded it. Why can't we buy it?
Not to be too redundant, but it seems the film makers made some poor business choices, as if stuck back in the 1990s:
ReplyDeleteWhere is the DVD? No showing within three hours of where I live - I'd buy the DVD is a heartbeat. I've not "stolen" a copy off download because I keep assuming that the DVD will be out soon. Glad to hear it will be June. I don't want to be argumentative, but I totally disagree that the pirated views will damage sales. Add bonus features and interviews with you, Jenna and others who are willing to speak candidly for the DVD release. Maybe short interviews on your excellent investigative work over the years. Lots of opportunity here to pack on bonus material to draw customers. Get out of the ancient mindset that "pirated" views will hurt sales.
Where is the video on demand to a wide range of buyers? It is not on my satellite system. What about cutting a deal with Netflix or some other venue?
Post it to Youtube in chunks along with advertising and draw income streams from that.
Love the idea of Collapsenet - great option.
Thanks for your hard work. We all want you to succeed in spreading your message. I am not sure what deals got cut to even get Collapse shot, so maybe you are hogtied there, but I think the DVD will be better received than you think.