The person maintaining GnuPG went nearly broke because nobody donated to this widely used project. Only because corporations stepped up, GnuPG didn't go unmaintained.
This is a constant issue and hardly anybody can survive on private donations alone. Government grants and corporate donations keep the lights on.
One can be appreciated by anyone for its own sake, answering fundamental human needs; the other can only be used by certain qualified technicians.
100% of people who heard my song in background of John Streamer’s Minecraft speedrun are capable of enjoying music for its own sake. (In fact, they may be more likely to listen to my song again and again than rewatch his speedrun. I have gained up to as many new listeners as John has had viewers.)
0% of people who used the app Kyle McDeveloper built on top of my web framework are capable of enjoying a web framework for its own sake. (In fact, 0% of humans are, and only a rounding error would know what it even is. I have not gained anything, so if Kyle is profiting off this I’d rather prefer if he sponsored me on GitHub.)
Why doesn't the streamer use their marketing power to promote independent musicians that don't have big record label deals then? That would be even better because successful independent musicians weaken the music industry and could lead to more competition.
Even if you have gotten a green light from the original musician, go prove this to a giant corporation that will never have a human representative speak to you. (Stories about people publishing their own music on YouTube only to get it taken down due to a false positive were posted even on HN, I believe.)
Thus, creators seem to use either 1) no music at all, 2) their own music, or 3) generic-sounding music from some royalty-free content platform.
I am wondering whether Bandcamp will finally do the next logical thing and streamline the process of licensing music for video creators directly from musicians (those who opted in).
[0] For obvious reasons, few good musicians are willing to publish music on those royalty-free commoditized music farms.
I think curation of music is a large part of the ultimate answer to recreating the relationship we used to have with music. If you think it's "stunning" I want to hear it!
https://robertrich.bandcamp.com/album/neurogenesis
Slow abstract soundscaping like this would not generally be my kind of jam, but my ear welcomes the lack of typical equal temperament inharmonies. I reckon this album is among the more accessible examples of just intonation and microtonality (title track puts JI on show especially).
I wouldn’t classify Robert Rich as someone who desperately needed my financial support, but I really liked the music and know a couple of people who could possibly appreciate it.
Even though that musician enables free listening via Bandcamp, he does not distribute his work under Creative Commons or a similar license, which radically reduces the chance of lucky accidents where people like me stumble across his music.
I believe having more music distributed under CC or a similar license would immensely benefit musicians themselves, other content creators such as YouTube vloggers and Twitch streamers, and the end listener—everyone wins, except maybe for major labels and distributors.
(Note that CC license is different from public domain: the former mandates attribution, the latter doesn’t.)