When I finished reading “Science’s Pirate Queen” my one thought was. I think the reason why giant publications are so threatened by “Sci Hub” is not the fact that they are stealing, but the fact that they showed paid publication that they have nothing to offer. Let me explain right now I could theoretically download any movie I wanted through piracy, but I still rather use Netflix, and it is not because I could get caught stealing, but because Netflix aside from the content, it also has something else to offer, commodity. To download something for free I will have to install a VPN, look for the movie, download the torrent, wait until it downloads, and then finally I can watch my movie. With Netflix my movie is just a few clicks away. It is the same thing with music. Right now in my computer I have the whole discography of Coldplay, yes Coldplay, but to take it on the go I have to hook up my iPhone to my computer, if it’s full, I have to delete stuff to make space, and then finally I can put the music on my phone, but instead I use Spotify. I pay 10 dollars a month, even if I still own the same music, why? because of commodity. If Elsevier and other publishing giants wants to continue to charge the prices that they are charging, then they need to innovate, they need to make it easy to access at an accessible price, if not, they are going to become the Blockbuster of online journals, where Netflix sells the same content Blockbuster was selling, but Netflix is doing it way better.
Nothing Special
2018-11-04