[M4IF Discuss] Questions about the hourly usage fee for MPEG4

[Jeff Handy]

I haven't seen any "real" alternative ideas to the use fees.  What about
this?  A one time encoding fee per minute.  
For the sake of example, we are charged $.01/minute of encoded material.
IOW, if I encode 20 hours of footage, I pay $12 in royalties.
This model would be easier to monitor and bill as well.  It would
require the encoder developers to have a reporting mechanism similar to
a serial number checking routine that some developers already employ.
It would have to keep an encrypted record of all encoding activity.  I
know this leaves room for some pirates to "block" the transmission of
billing info.  However, I think it's an acceptable risk.  The majority
of content developers work on the up and up anyway.
A report would automatically be retrieved at specified intervals and go
directly to the MPEG-LA.  The fees would occur only once per encode.  So
you aren't paying for "views" or "viewers".  If your material was not
encoded well and had to be redone, specific encoding charges can be
disputed.
However, if you want to encode five bit rates, you pay for five encodes.
After all, you ARE encoding different bit rates to reach a greater
audience, no?  So, using my example from above (20 hours @$.01/min) five
bit rate encodes would cost me $60.
These are just some of the thoughts I've had over the past week or so.
Is it making any sense?
Jeff Handy - Senior Digital Media Specialist
Bisk Education - Technology Development
World Headquarters - Tampa, FL
800-874-7877 x360
jeffh   bisk.com
http://www.bisk.com
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