Online Financial Accounts That Can Reproduce, Inherit, and Evolve: A Better Way to Sell Art Online

For the first time in history online financial accounts could reproduce -- creating "children," grandchildren, and family trees of new accounts, at their owner's command. For the average online bank account, reproduction would be nonsense. But we show how it can power a new, very flexible financial instrument that opens doors to many unexpected business and fundraising models, and other possibilities that would be difficult today. It will let ordinary people control hundreds of options (settings) for their money, customize accounts in minutes, and widely share their most successful innovations with others, who can customize further.

The offspring accounts will inherit an unlimited number of services and settings at birth (usually most of the account's settings will be turned off, but available if needed). These accounts will evolve in everyday practical use, as changes made by owners will be inherited by future generations of accounts -- a process favoring the most popular "mutations."

Public, clickable, reproducing accounts will let independent artists and others distribute art and information through social networks worldwide, with little or no upfront cost. Sponsors can buy bulk access to give away free through networks of their choice, with the sponsor's message if they wish. End users will pay the artist by the act of free downloading itself -- without ever needing to get an account, register, log in, spend any money, or even know about the transaction.

We also show how today's DRM (digital-rights management) prevents musicians from developing an audience by suppressing sharing and word of mouth, promoting a superstar-or-nothing corporate monoculture. Sponsored free downloads will avoid most need for DRM, encourage sharing and artistic diversity within social networks, and allow more artists to make a living from their work.

No software has yet been written, but the design is ready to go. One trusted server anywhere could provide this service in low volume throughout the world, in many different languages, with no need for any critical mass of users -- making startup easier. We have no proprietary claim, and anyone can use our work for nonprofit or commercial purposes.

Below are examples: for artists; for newspaper, magazine, and journal publishers; and for diverse uses that show a great range of unexpected possibilities. We conclude with "Money, Poverty, DRM, Audience, Superstars, and a Path Forward" -- and links for more information.