Echoing Gigi: “The paradox of Digital Rights Management is this: content will only stay behind a paywall if it is shitty. If it's good, someone will set it free.” Thus, a way to solve the dilemma of seeing people reproduce your work repeatedly while you try to paywall it to earn a living is to let it fly free.

Some describe it as a type of donation, Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) or crowdfunding, and we like to call it Value 4 Value (V4V). One way the V4V model stands out from the conventional methods of raising funds is the flippening of the two steps of payment and enjoyment of the content. In most mainstream transaction initiatives, the payment takes place before the work is consumed or even produced.

In a V4V model, however, the creator receives value after the “customer” enjoys the content. The creator generates value through their content and in return, the customers decide to pay with something of value without the involvement of a third party, voluntarily. P2P. V4V.

When the customer decides the value and pays directly to the supplier, the supplier places the responsibility on the customer to value the service you provided.

What is needed is a direct P2P transfer of value online. This is made possible through the native money of the internet, Bitcoin - whose instant transfer is facilitated through the Lightning Network (LN). In the V4V model, LN is a fast and secure way for customers to show their true appreciation.

Check out Podcasting 2.0 as a successful V4V model enabled by the Podcast Index and apps like Breez, Fountain and, Sphinx Chat that allow users to stream payments to their favorite podcasters while they listen.