gah...

i decided to give uploading to google play a shot. it's almost five cents a stream. that's far more realistic as a payout. i'd expect that what google is doing is undercutting the competition, and that they will eventually raise the price. i'm on the other side of this, and i'd have to argue this is the right way forward. spotify isn't paying the artists. if google is paying the artists, that's a start, but the price it's charging isn't sustainable, either....

it's $25 to sign up, which is what stopped me from signing up before. but i've got $25 in my paypal account from sales. that's how i want this to work.

they only take google wallet. ok. so, i go to sign up and they won't take my debit card. i'm using a canadian grocery store card, so i guess they don't have it setup. that's reasonable, but then why make it the only option?

that's not what creeped me out, though. realizing that i can't make this transaction, i went to delete the wallet account i'd created.

apparently, google wants to phone you.

i don't have a phone, either, but that's not the point. about the last thing in the world that i want is a phone call from google. i just about had a heart attack.

scary shit.

it turns out google wallet has general problems in canada.

we can't use their phone software, either.

it's probably a "regulatory problem". which means that the oligopoly doesn't want to let in foreign companies.

our regulatory bodies get praise outside the country, and there are some upsides, i'll admit that. but they're generally driven by the desire to control the market, to keep rates higher. i'm one to argue for other options than market liberalization, as i don't think that is beneficial to consumers, either. but when you're dealing with these big companies, conflicts develop - because they want to control the entire process.

as the united states is a large and close market, it's a problem for canadian businesses, in general. there has to be some kind of workaround...