Today I urge everyone to make sure that the entertainment industry does not profit from them anymore. Stop seeing their movies. Stop listening to their music. Make sure that you find alternative ways to culture.

Peter envisioned Flattr exactly for this – enabling independent artists and creators to tap directly into their fanbase, into their followers, readers, viewers, listeners, customers. Less middle men, less fat industry, fewer restrictions, more direct payments/donations and of course, relationship between the creator and the “consumer”.

Flattr catalog is a continuously growing body of free content – movies, music, games, software, comics, photos…

Other places to get independent music, movies etc: Soundcloud, Libre.fm, Jamendo (all are music), Vo.do (movies).

But don’t forget to go to check out that up and coming indie band playing in a local club this Friday, the budding artist who’s just launching his first art show, young choreographers doing a funky urban space dance project. Find out what’s happening in your home town, in your neighborhood, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.

Most important – be a part of it, everyone can be a creator, it’s much more fun and rewarding that being a passive consumer. Find your thing, do it, enjoy it.

But this is about something so much bigger.

Trust that this does not really affect our daily work. Peter has since the start been the visionary and guide for the company. He is on the forefront of what we’re trying to achieve, our main spokesperson and the guy with the vision. This will not change. Regardless of where he might be physically sitting or held, the internet sees no boundaries and that is the real place Peter lives — as does Flattr and the people that work with it.

We have previously expressed our concern about SOPA, and today’s events have made it even more clear that someone is putting their pawns on the board waiting for the real game to begin. It’s time we understand that the forces behind this may not know what they are doing, what the result will be and that it’s not just sites or business ideas which are at stake here. What’s at risk is our freedom to use the internet.

We hope that this is a consequence of lack of knowledge, that the people suggesting these activities and laws don’t know what they will actually result in, that it’s not progress. But we don’t think they will understand and listen unless we scream loudly. It’s time for everyone to understand that internet is the most wonderful creation of modern time, and it has become this wonder because it’s designed as it is. Don’t change it nor try to control it, embrace it.

The fundamental fabric of the internet is at stake. It’s easy to look at what is happening as attempts to control media and content the way already done in the physical world. The only way to achieve this is to see and control what every single person does. And yes, that is what is being suggested and implied now. Total control of the most basic systems of the internet. Total control of what you do. And this in order to enforce structures that the internet was built expressly not to include.

As the result we are now even more determined to drive the internet forward. Trying to find a new way to support all the creativity of you wonderful people out there has been the goal from start, and it still is. And with your help we will succeed.

We love the web!

The Flattr Board – Linus Olsson, Eileen Burbidge, Jan-Erik Fiske
And the Flattr Team

1. Visit our Get button page (you need to be logged in)

2. Browse through the dozens of different platforms and content management systems to see if the one that powers your website is supported. If not then continue with step 4.

3. Pick your content platform and follow the instructions

4. If we don’t support your software or you want the code snippet for just one button you can place in a place of your choice then use the manual button creation option.

- Fill out the required fields (URL, title, description, tags) as this information will be used in our Catalog where you site will be featured.
- Click “Get button”
- You now see the HTML code you need to put on your website. Below is a quick screencast showing the steps for that.

5. If you have full control over your website then add first bit of code inside tag and the second bit of code where you want the button to appear.

6. If you can’t edit tag (or you cannot add Javascript to your site) then scroll down to Static button and use this code.

7. That’s it, you’re done.

8. Promote your button – blog about it, tweet it to your followers, put it into your Facebook and/or Google+.

Got a problem? Get in touch via our contact form, describe what you were trying to do and what went wrong and we’ll figure it out together.