That Kevin Smith story is pretty hilarious. I don&#x27;t begrudge Prince wanting to control his distribution. He wasn&#x27;t some greedy executive trying to increase his bottom line, he wasn&#x27;t cheating people out of what they paid for. He was an artist. Art is not completely different than any other resource, in that scarcity makes it more valuable, and not just in the monetary sense.<p>To me, it&#x27;s not much different than Bill Watterson exerting such tight control over Calvin and Hobbes, including refusing to license his artistic work for merchandise or creative spinoffs. As consumers, we think about how we&#x27;re getting screwed out of not getting to experience more of what we loved and respected. But we aren&#x27;t able to perceive how our love and respect for something would likely be diminished if that thing were commoditized.<p>Think about the average respect people have for Peanuts...Peanuts merchandise and spinoffs have so flooded the mainstream market that it&#x27;s unfathomable to me how it became one of Bill Watterson&#x27;s most powerful inspirations.