The maximum price buyers are willing to pay is always independent of the cost of production.

Seller are free to ask for a price that matches (and hopefully exceeds) that cost, but that's irrelevant to buyers, who will only pay as much as they are willing to pay, and not more.

What you're doing with a so called "V4V" scheme though, is ask for the buyers' MINIMUM price. How LITTLE they're willing to pay. And that has nothing to do with the maximum price, i.e., how much they would be willing to pay if access wasn't free.

This is because when access is free, buyers will identify the difference between rhe maximum price and the access price, and perceive that difference as an "opportunity". A bargain.

So, do not confuse the minimum price that "V4V" necessarily asks for with the value that buyers assign to the goods sold, and even less with the maximum price that "normal" market pricing aims to find.

That *some* people are willing to pay *something* as a token of recognition doesn't mean they are paying a market price at all, or that they're paying based on the perceived value, even.

This would be akin to expecting people who buy clothes at a store during sale to turn around and refuse to pay the discounted price, and ask to pay the full price. "Intellectual work" isn't different. nostr:note1hvn4awrjts53z0eltqfjmdhpa8eqcxzaenw48rpks7ag7lvg9qysx488xv